Taylor Sheridan writes about powerful couples within the Dutton family for the Yellowstone franchise, but some of them are better than others. He has a way of crafting strong relationships between Yellowstone franchise characters, anchoring the family’s time on the Yellowstone Dutton Ranch with robust love stories. Chemistry, circumstances, and the duration or strength of a connection must be considered when determining which couples in the Yellowstone franchise are genuinely the biggest powerhouses.
Most family members of the Dutton family tree in Yellowstone find sturdy partners with whom they can navigate their lives, with a few key exceptions. The eldest of John Dutton III’s (Kevin Costner) children never married before Lee Dutton’s Yellowstone death. Another Dutton who didn’t make the list is Jamie Dutton (Wes Bentley), who isn’t technically part of the clan. Still, it’s worth noting that his relationship with Sarah Atwood (Dawn Olivieri), which led to John Dutton’s tragic Yellowstone fate, was a powerful combination indeed.
10. John I & Emma
1923
John I and Emma’s shocking Yellowstone deaths set up the rest of the family’s story for 1923, causing Spencer to make the journey home, but the couple’s love story lacks an outstanding or powerful narrative.
Emma Dutton is part of the story until 1923 season 1, episode 5, “Ghost of Zebrina,” when the widow shoots herself, taking her own life due to the grief of losing her husband. John I and Emma’s shocking Yellowstone deaths set up the rest of the family’s story for 1923, causing Spencer to make the journey home, but the couple’s love story lacks an outstanding or powerful narrative. Still, John and Emma have a sweet scene in Bozeman when the family goes to town, and the parents opt to listen to music in the park and watch the sunset.
9. John III & Evelyn
Yellowstone
Evelyn’s flashback in Yellowstone season 1, episode 3, “No Good Horses,” shows the mother’s brutal death, falling off her horse as it veers backward, and she breaks her spine. Evelyn’s flashback in Yellowstone season 1, episode 7, “A Monster Among Us,” is a bit better, showing Evelyn interacting with her family on Christmas morning. From the thin slice of what we can see as Evelyn sits with John on the couch and shoos him away at the door of Beth’s bathroom, the parents seem to have a sturdy partnership.
8. Jack & Liz
1923
In the 1923 story, Jack Dutton (Darren Mann) has a sweet romance with Elizabeth Strafford (Michelle Randolph). There’s a moment in 1923 when Jack’s mother, Emma, talks about how she wanted her son to marry someone who would balance out his qualities, and Cara Dutton (Helen Mirren) implies that Jack and Liz are more like fire and gasoline. While Jack and Liz are compelling, Alex and Spencer fit Cara’s description better, and their love story overshadows life on the ranch.
While Spencer and Alex are in Africa and crossing the world to make it home to the ranch in 1923 season 1, Jack and Liz live out a much less romantic, more practical storyline back at the ranch. Despite that, their ranch life gives them fewer opportunities to have epic moments between them, like when Alex and Spencer allegedly see footprints near Tanganyika that are so old they were made when the ground was soft. Still, Jack and Liz have a strong and supportive love that rides the waves of strife on the ranch.
7. Kayce & Monica
Yellowstone
Kayce (Luke Grimes) and Monica (Kelsey Asbille) are a solid couple. They get their happy ending in the Yellowstone finale, but Kayce and Monica falter throughout the series. For instance, Monica explores a relationship with another man while living away from Kayce in an apartment at Montana State University in Bozeman. Even after they outlast Monica’s cheating, things haven’t been easy.
Kayce and Monica talk about their dynamic as unshakable, and ultimately, it is, yet they are rarely on the same page or want the same things. Their push-and-pull dynamic is eventually needed to establish why Kayce is free at the end of Yellowstone. Still, that justification doesn’t make up for the divide they experience at different times in their story. Furthermore, Kayce and Monica’s relationship doesn’t add anything new in season 5, part 2.
6. Elsa & Ennis
1883
Elsa (Isabel May) and Ennis (Eric Nelsen) are another great couple in the Yellowstone franchise. The 1883 characters meet on a journey across the American West. Elsa is traveling with a wagon train of emigrants on a northwest variant of the Oregon Trail from Texas. Ennis is a cowboy who helps Shea (Sam Elliot) and Thomas (LaMonica Garrett) round up a herd of wild cattle and then rides with them to look after the herd. Elsa and Ennis fall in love on horseback, exchanging glances reminiscent of first love.
Elsa and Ennis’ first love pairing isn’t as fantastic as her relationship with Sam (Martin Sensmeier). Still, they make a dynamic duo that would have served Elsa well had Ennis not taken a fatal bullet.
5. Spencer & Alex
1923
In the 1923 prequel, Alexandra (Julia Schlaepfer) and Spencer (Brandon Sklenar) experience an epic love that evokes Shakespearean qualities. Spencer first meets Alex in Nairobi, where she is on a trip to Africa for her engagement. The travelers have a run-in at the hotel when Alex’s friends dare her to deduce whether the hunter is the famous Spencer Dutton. Alex then impulsively accompanies Spencer to Tanganyika, fleeing her royal engagement because it’s a real estate transaction, and she doesn’t love her fiancé.
4. Elsa & Sam
1883
While it’s likely that Elsa is the youngest Dutton to get married in the Yellowstone franchise, her marriage with Sam makes for one of the best team-ups in the saga. Elsa and Sam meet along the Oregon Trail in Kansas. Sam is a Comanche warrior who challenges Elsa to a horse race, and the competition establishes their connection. While it initially looks like Sam and Elsa will part ways, the Comanche warrior returns to protect Elsa from a tornado and then saves her life when cattle bandits attack her.
Elsa ultimately agrees to ride with her family, confirming that she will return and meet Sam on the plains where the flowers bloom after her family settles in Oregon.
Elsa and Sam bond over their shared loss, having both lost their first love. They also establish a strong connection over their desire to live in harmony with the land. After a few run-ins, Sam and Elsa decide to get married while talking about visiting the mountains. Sam gives James Dutton (Tim McGraw) a horse to establish the partnership, but Elsa’s mother, Margaret (Faith Hill), vehemently opposes the marriage. Elsa ultimately agrees to ride with her family, confirming that she will return and meet Sam on the plains where the flowers bloom after her family settles in Oregon.
As the couple part ways in 1883 episode 8, “The Weep of Surrender,” Elsa says a heartbreaking goodbye to her husband, crying at him in his native Comanche language, which he taught her the night before. Their separation is tragic, especially considering Elsa’s death in 1883 prevents them from reuniting. However, when Elsa dies and talks about her version of the afterlife, she includes Sam, proving that the couple has a lasting bond. Sam and Elsa would have been unstoppable had they been able to reunite.
3. Jacob & Cara
1923
Jacob (Harrison Ford) and Cara Dutton, who run the ranch in the 1923 prequel, are among the best Yellowstone pairings. Elsa Dutton’s narration in the Yellowstone prequel establishes how her aunt and uncle take over the ranch after Elsa’s father, James, dies of a bullet wound inflicted in a fight with horse thieves. Margaret Dutton dies shortly after writing to Jacob, her brother-in-law, about her husband’s death, asking them to come to Montana to save the family’s land and her husband’s dream.
2. James & Margaret
1883
James and Margaret Dutton are among the strongest couples in the Yellowstone franchise. Real-life partners and A-list country musicians Tim McGraw and Faith Hill play James and Margaret, adding an authentic element to their tested partnership. The couple is among the best in the franchise because they deal with their issues as partners and parents along their harrowing journey on the Oregon Trail. While they don’t always agree, James and Margaret are almost always on the same page and trust each other indelibly.
Their journey is harrowing, filled with moments that shake the core of their existence, yet James and Margaret make it through their heartbreaking journey as a team.
1. Beth & Rip
Yellowstone
Finally, Beth (Kelly Reilly) and Rip (Cole Hauser) are the most prominent powerhouse couple in the Yellowstone franchise. Aficionados of the series have plenty of insight into the couple’s relationship, which played out for five series on the flagship. Beth and Rip’s love story includes numerous flashbacks to when the pair were young, showing how their journey to finding one another started in their adolescence. After reuniting in the Yellowstone flagship, Beth and Rip’s love story is one of the most enthralling in the franchise.
A quasi-ending to Beth and Rip’s love story occurred in Yellowstone season 5, episode 14, marking the end of the Dutton family’s time on their Montana ranch. Beth and Rip move to a ranch 40 miles west of Dillon to start their journey independent of the family, and a new offshoot of the franchise will pick up where their story ended. The Beth and Rip Yellowstone show that will follow the couple’s journey after the flagship’s Yellowstone conclusion is perhaps the biggest testament to the couple’s prowess, proving Beth and Rip can stand on their own.
