The Guide

Jack, a fly-fishing guide and cattle rancher from Kremmling, Colorado, arrives at Kingfisher Lodge, an ultra-exclusive fishing retreat in a mountain canyon along a private stretch of river known as Billionaire's Mile. He takes the job to escape the routines of the family ranch he shares with his father, Pop, and the grief over two devastating losses for which he blames himself: his mother's death in a horse accident when he was 11, and the death of his best friend, Wynn, on a remote river expedition three years earlier.

Kurt Jensen, the lodge's manager, explains the rules: guests use cruiser bikes instead of cars, there is a two-drink limit at the bar, and a code-operated steel gate controls all entry and exit. The owner, Mr. Den, lives in England and wants his private water treated as the wildest river on earth. Kurt warns Jack never to cross the upstream boundary post, where a neighbor named Kreutzer has shot at trespassers, and mentions that the previous guide, Ken, quit suddenly.

Jack catches a trout beneath a pedestrian bridge and notices a surveillance camera on the beam. At dinner, he meets the guests: Alison K, a famous woman in her early thirties; her security chief, Vincent Serra; Will and his companion Neave; and a wealthy young couple Jack dubs "the Fleeces." Cody, the other guide, explains the cameras are for Den to watch trout from England and warns about the downstream neighbor Ellery's vicious dogs.

Feeling uneasy, Jack retrieves his .30-.30 carbine from his truck. The next morning he begins guiding Alison, and they develop an immediate rapport. She is playful, direct, and an accomplished fisher. On the river, she hooks an enormous trout that runs past Kreutzer's boundary. In a spruce grove, Jack notices a Velcro strap and the edge of a wading boot protruding from disturbed ground. A rifle shot cracks a tree five feet away, and he grabs Alison and they flee.

Kurt dresses Jack down, reveals he has researched Jack's past online, and orders him to surrender his rifle. That evening, Ana, the housekeeper, delivers towels and tells Jack a sequence of numbers, "tres, tres, nueve, tres," insisting he memorize them. That night, Jack returns to the grove and finds the ground smoothed over and the boot gone. He hears a motor, a heavy door, and a piercing shriek that cuts short.

Jack's suspicions multiply. Will and Neave appear at breakfast with Band-Aids on their hands as if from IVs. Cody and the Fleeces never appear on the river. Shay, the server, loads 20 breakfasts onto a golf cart and drives upstream. Jack climbs the canyon wall with binoculars and discovers that the lodge's fencing runs continuously into Kreutzer's property, suggesting a single compound. He watches a convoy including Kurt's pickup and a sheriff's squad car enter Kreutzer's gate.

Jack and Alison drive to the nearby town of Crested Butte, where he shares his discoveries. They learn online that Nicholas Den is a biochemist who invented synthetic RNA and sold his company for $2.6 billion. They also discover he shot a beloved lion named Simba in Zimbabwe. On the drive back, they see a terrified barefoot girl in a hospital gown running down the road. A sheriff's deputy intercepts the girl, handcuffs her, and drives not toward town but up the canyon.

Jack finds Ken's hidden iPhone beneath his bed. Voice memos reveal Ken saw children on the property, was spotted by a mercenary, and feared for his life. Ken warns that Den hires "broken people" because nobody believes them, and instructs the listener to check the thermostat. Jack pops the cover off the Nest thermostat and finds a hidden camera aimed at his bed. That evening, Jack pressures Shay, who reveals the lodge doubles as an elite rehabilitation center for powerful figures. The explanation covers some of what Jack has seen but not the buried boot, the girl on the road, or Ken's panic.

A new couple, Yumi and Teiji Takagi, arrives. Jack discovers his own iPhone has been stolen from his waders. The Takagis are led away for "treatments" and return in a golf cart, their faces devastated: Yumi is sheet-white and crying. Kurt attempts to fire Jack, but Alison threatens to expose the lodge to her 1.1 million Twitter followers. Kurt backs down. The Takagis announce they are leaving, but their departure is blocked. Kurt then declares a pandemic lockdown, trapping everyone inside the compound and publicly isolating Jack and Alison from the other guests.

Jack confronts the Takagis, who reveal the truth: the young people are sources of live survivor plasma, blood from those who have survived deadly diseases and carry rare genetic immunity. The plasma is transfused into paying clients, who are promised super immunity and the possibility of reverse aging. The Takagis describe restraints and rooms full of machines.

At dawn, Jack bikes to Kreutzer's lodge and watches armed guards lead 12 barefoot young people in hospital gowns from a bunker into the building. Many appear malnourished and terrified; one young boy collapses from apparent illness before a guard carries him inside. Later, while fishing downstream, he vaults Ellery's fence and photographs guards dragging the body of one of the captives toward a pen of dogs. He and Alison attempt to leave through the front gate, but the code has been changed. They arm themselves from the lodge's gun closet and take dynamite from Jack's truck.

At the boundary fence, Cody ambushes Jack. Alison draws a compact Walther 9mm from her fishing vest and shoots Cody in the thigh. They flee upstream as Ellery's dogs close in on the wounded man. Jack and Alison crawl through the meadow to Kreutzer's lodge. Jack slips inside and discovers the treatment room in the basement: pairs of recliners connected by machines with tubes, each linking an adult client to a restrained, drugged young donor. He photographs the room, then races upstairs to Den's surveillance tower. Shay uses her biometric access to let him through the final door. Den rises from behind the taxidermied lion, Simba, with a shotgun. Jack fires through the lion's mouth and kills Den.

Alison detonates dynamite to blow open the front door, and a firefight erupts with the remaining guards. Jack finds a red Tesla, and they tear down the driveway under fire. At the main gate, Kurt's code fails. Jack remembers Ana's numbers, 3393, and the gate opens. They speed down the canyon while Alison texts all the photos to Vincent Serra, a retired FBI division chief. Two sheriff's cruisers race to intercept them. Jack swerves onto a rough track, and the Tesla bogs down. They flee on foot. As dusk falls, two helicopters arrive over the divide, heading for the canyon. Jensen and his men do not pursue.

Jack returns home and helps Pop with the ranch. A reporter who followed ambulances through the gate films the children and the treatment room, and the footage becomes an international sensation. Jensen and two operators are placed on the FBI's Most Wanted list. The corrupt sheriff and deputy are arrested. The sick boy Jack saw collapse survives. Pop tells Jack he did good and saved many lives. Jack cries in his father's arms for the first time since his mother's death.

In the epilogue, set in early November, Alison fishes the Little Pigeon River in the North Carolina Smokies. She hears a whistle, three notes then three, and turns to see a fisherman at the bend, casting with a cadence she recognizes. She whispers, "There is nothing better than this," echoing Jack's mantra, and watches him fish upstream toward her.