This is the kind of film I love. The story revolves around a perfect woman with high expectations.
The film begins with two cowboys stopping in at a tavern in the Old West. The older one, Nathan Strong (C. Thomas Howell), is out for gambling, women, and a good time. He hands $640 to his riding partner, Chase Logan (Brad Pitt-like Trevor Donovan), for safe-keeping and sits down at a poker table. Chase is a loner, reserved and quiet. He ignores the offers from the ladies around the bar and takes a bottle up to his room, settling in for alcohol-induced sleep when he suddenly hears a gunshot.
He rushes to the balcony and sees his friend, Nathan, shot dead and oozing blood onto the floor below. There doesn’t appear to be the thought of an investigation. The law of the West rests with who remains alive. Chase figures there’s only one decent thing to do. Ride out to old Nathan’s homestead to tell the wife the bad news.
The perfect woman, Jessie (Ashley Elaine) turns out to be Nathan’s wife. She has long ebony hair, alabaster skin with secret scars on her back, and a practical sense. Coincidentally, she was waiting for Sarah, a young girl from the orphanage she grew up in. Jessie had plans to adopt Sarah. But instead, she finds Chase in the eyesight of her rifle knocking on her door. Jessie establishes right from the beginning that she can manage her own affairs.
The screenplay, written by Mike Maden and the director, John Schimke, is based on the best-selling book written by Caroline Fyffe. “Where the Wind Blows,” is Book One of Fyffe’s award-winning western historical romance Prairie Hearts series.
It’s noteworthy to mention that Trevor Donovan, who plays Chase, is a dead-ringer for another well-known star. He’s got the same look, shirt off or on, mannerisms and hesitant voice of Brad Pitt. His character, Chase, steals every scene with his hesitant charm. Like Jessie, he also grew up without parents. But while Jessie has a life plan, Chase seems a little lost.
When Chase tells Jessie that her husband has died, she grieves. But the most important question becomes what will she do about the adoption now? She must be married to make the transaction legal. So, she asks Chase to pretend he is Nathan when the child is brought to her house.
How Chase handles this request becomes his moral challenge. How Jessie can be perceived as a perfect woman is instructional. But most of all, Fyffe’s story is about choices and what truly makes up love.
Credits
Director: John Schimke
Writers: Mike Maden and John Schimke / Based on the book by Caroline Fyffe
Producers: Ashley Elaine, John Schimke, Eden Bryan and Brandon Smith
Cast: Trevor Donovan, Ashley Elaine, C. Thomas Howell, Michelle Hurd, Lochlyn Munro, Rob Mayes, Colin Egglesfield, Don Swayze, and Cole Keriazakos
Location: Emigrant, Montana (Yellowstone Film Ranch)
Release: Oct. 24, 2025
Website: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt32649844/
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