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[Warning: This article contains major spoilers for the Dutton Ranch series premiere.] 

Dorothy, we’re not in Montana anymore. 

The Duttons are back on TV in the new Paramount+ series Dutton Ranch. The show follows Beth Dutton (Kelly Reilly) and Rip Wheeler (Cole Hauser) as they build a new life together in Texas. But what made the pair trade the wide-open range of Montana for the windswept plains of the Lone Star State? 

Tragedy brings Beth and Rip to Texas in ‘Dutton Ranch’ 

The first two episodes of Dutton Ranch dropped Friday on Paramount+, and the show wastes no time in revealing why Beth and Rip have moved on from their familiar Yellowstone stomping grounds. In the opening minutes of “The Untold Want,” Beth and Rip are spending the night under the star on their sprawling Montana ranch. After years of chaos and violence, they are enjoying some well-earned peace. 

“Did you ever imagine we could have this, this quiet?” Beth asks. 

“No, not in this lifetime,” Rip replies. 

“We’re free now, baby,” Beth adds. “First time for me, I think.” 

But Beth and Rip’s moment of calm is short-lived. A storm rolls in and suddenly, everything changes. 

The pair watch in horror as huge bolts of lighting cut through the sky and set the ground ablaze. A massive wildfire breaks out, and it’s a race against time to save themselves and their animals. 

‘Yellowstone’ couple starts over in ‘Dutton Ranch’ 

Beth and Rip leap into action. She grabs paperwork and a few other precious mementos from their home, then works with their adopted son Carter (Finn Little) to load their horses into the trailer. Meanwhile, Rip rides out to cut the fences so that the cattle can escape the blaze. But when Rip doesn’t meet them at the evacuation point, Beth heads back to the ranch to find him. There she find a soot-covered Rip, who has hung back in an attempt to save an injured calf. 

“It’s all gone,” an emotional Rip tells Beth. 

“It doesn’t matter,” she replies. “We start again.”

Six months later, Beth and Rip have a new ranch in Texas. But as we see in the rest of the episode, they haven’t exactly received a warm welcome in their new home. Carter clashes with other kids at school, Rip faces off against a racist local who insults his foreman, and Beth goes may have met her match in Beulah Jackson (Annette Bening), the cunning head of a powerful local ranching family. 

Will Beth and Rip be able to set down new roots in the Texas soil? Or will they be driven out by ruthless rivals who are determined to protect their own empire? We’ll find out when new episodes of Dutton Ranch release weekly on Friday on Paramount+. Episodes also air weekly on Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Paramount Network. 

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