Train Dreams (2025)

An uncomplicated, family-oriented man struggles to adjust to an ever-changing world, especially after suffering a loss.

Even for the early 1900s, a less complicated time in many ways than now, Robert Grainier (Joel Edgerton) is a simple man. For one, he is almost a blank slate: the year of his birth and the identity of his parents are complete mysteries. And he is utterly content with his one acre of land and cabin in Idaho, doting on wife Gladys Olding (Felicity Jones), who is the one reason his life ever “made sense,” and baby daughter Kate. Unfortunately, the family needs money, so Robert leaves to log every season. Cutting down trees for the railway is physically demanding and can also be dangerous; sometimes trees fall at unexpected angles and kill sawyers. Robert often has the uneasy feeling that one is intended for him. Still, he soaks in the conversations of his interesting and strange coworkers. When the assignments end, Robert always happily returns to Gladys and marvels at little Kate’s development, but on one ride home, everything changes. Looking out his train window, he watches flames consume his home. In the blink of an eye, the life he has made vanishes forever. 

The relationship of Robert and Gladys is one of equality. Because Robert is often absent, Gladys learns practical and stereotypically male skills like hunting and building traps, while Robert seems content with the slow rhythm of spending time with baby Kate when he’s home. Robert and Gladys hope to start a work partnership together, developing their own sawmill.