THE HOMESMAN Galas

When three women go insane on the edges of the American frontier, the task of delivering them back East falls to pious spinster Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank). The daunting challenge of driving a wagon loaded with madwomen the distance of 400 miles compels her to employ a partner, drifting low-life George Briggs (director and co-writer Tommy Lee Jones). Together, the unlikely pair heads out across the prairie with their unusual cargo, traversing the harsh, untamed Nebraska Territories in a journey marked by stark beauty, constant danger and psychological peril. Their destination is an Iowa church where a minister’s wife (Meryl Streep) waits to relieve them of the lost souls in their care. But before they can cross back into civilization, their mission will exact a brutal toll.