The Homesman  The Homesman is a 2014 historical drama set in the 1850s Midwest, directed by Tommy Lee Jones. The screenplay by Jones, Kieran Fitzgerald and Wesley Oliver is based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout. The film stars Jones and Hilary Swank and also features Meryl Streep, Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Hailee Steinfeld, John Lithgow, and James Spader. The film was selected to compete for the Palme d'Or in the main competition section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival and received a North American limited release on November 14, 2014, by Roadside Attractions. "The Homesman" has received mostly positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a rating average of 7.1/10. The title refers to the task of taking immigrants back home, which was typically a man's job. In 1854 Mary Bee Cuddy is a 31-year-old spinster from New York, a former teacher who journeyed to the Midwest for more opportunity. She is an active member of the small farming community of Loup in the Nebraska Territory, and has significant financial prospects and sizable land ownership. She seems strong and independent, but suffers from depression and feels isolated. She makes dinner for her neighbor Bob Giffen, and sings to him, but when she proposes he turns her down saying she is "plain, and too bossy"; he then leaves to find a wife back east. After a harsh winter, three women from the community begin to show signs of mental instability due to the hardships they have faced. Arabella Sours has lost three children to diphtheria, Theoline Belknap kills her own child after a poor harvest puts her family at risk of starvation, and Gro Svendsen, a Danish immigrant, is shown to be in an abusive relationship with her husband and has a breakdown after her mother dies. Reverend Dowd calls upon one of their husbands to escort the women eastward to a church in Hebron, Iowa that cares for the mentally ill. One of the men refuses to participate in the lottery to determine who will escort the women; Cuddy takes his place, and the lot falls on her. While preparing for her journey, Cuddy encounters George Briggs, a claim jumper, who is about to be lynched for stealing Bob Giffen's land while he is away. Briggs begs Cuddy for help. Scared to make the trip alone, she frees him, and in return demands his help escorting the women.