The year is 1857. In the Utah Territory, the U.S. army and the first Latter-day Saints are at war over issues of religion and sovereignty. Amid the violence, a woman named Sara (played by Betty Gilpin) hires Isaac Reed, a Shoshone-raised white man (played by Taylor Kitsch) to guide her and her young son to the frontier. Along the way they encounter bounty hunters, members of the Shoshone tribe, and Brigham Young himself. Written by Mark L. Smith (The Revenant), the show is painstaking in its depiction of hardship and brutality, but the riveting stories of its lead characters are compelling. —Paulina Prosnitz