Straight from the Heart

The film opens with Jordan Donovan, a struggling New York photographer whose work focuses on 'garbage' as a form of social commentary, being rejected by a prestigious gallery owner. On her birthday, her long-term boyfriend Edward offers her a key to his apartment instead of a marriage proposal, prompting her friend Carla to secretly answer a 'Country Connections' ad for a Wyoming rancher. Jordan travels to Wyoming and meets Tyler Ross, who is initially cold and dismissive of her city background. Tyler is a widower whose wife, Sarah, died in childbirth—a tragedy for which Sarah's father, Hank Jamison, blames Tyler. Jordan slowly earns the respect of the ranch community by helping with chores, milking a goat to save an orphaned foal, and leading the local rancher team to victory in a baseball game using her college softball skills. The central conflict involves a herd of wild mustangs that Tyler protects but Hank Jamison and the Bureau of Land Management want to cull. Jordan uses her photography to document Jamison's illegal harassment of the horses, threatening to expose him to the governor. Despite a growing connection with Tyler, Jordan is confused when Edward arrives in Wyoming and finally proposes. She returns to New York to marry him, but soon realizes that Edward’s lifestyle of separate bank accounts and social climbing is hollow. She breaks off the engagement and holds a gallery show featuring her Wyoming photographs, which becomes a massive success. The film concludes when Tyler, having realized he cannot live without her, travels to New York City and interrupts her gallery opening by riding a horse through the streets to offer her a 'bride price,' a Shoshone tradition they had discussed on the ranch. Jordan accepts, and they reunite.