Plot
In May 1899, after a failed ferry heist in the thriving port town of Blackwater, Dutch Van der Linde and his gang are forced to flee the area and attempt to cross the snowy mountains north to avoid the law, leaving their substantial money stash behind. Its members include Arthur Morgan, John Marston, Hosea Matthews, Dutch’s right hand man, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuella, Lenny Summers, Charles Smith, Sean MacGuire, Uncle, Abigail Roberts, Molly O'Shea, Tilly Jackson, Simon Pearson, Leopold Strauss, Karen Jones, Susan Grimshaw, Josiah Trelawny, Mary-Beth Gaskill, Reverend Swanson, and Micah Bell. The gang set up a camp in the deserted mining town of Colter as a temporary shelter. Arthur, Micah and Dutch find a homestead holding a party, but then realize that the party is hosted by the O'Driscolls, a rival gang. The trio defeats them and find Sadie Adler, a widow whose husband was killed by O'Driscolls. They take Sadie under their wing.
In order to fund their escape south, Dutch has the gang rob a train belonging to the wealthy oil magnate Leviticus Cornwall. A furious and vengeful Cornwall then hires the Pinkerton Detective Agency, who send Agents Andrew Milton and Edgar Ross to apprehend the gang. Realizing that the progress of civilization is ending the time of outlaws, Dutch and the gang decide to gather up enough money to retire and escape the law for good. The gang relocates south to the state of New Hanover, and the gang perform numerous jobs and heists to gather enough money, as Dutch continually promises one last, big heist that will secure their freedom.
After a deadly shootout with Cornwall and his men, the gang is forced to relocate when Milton discovers their camp. In Rhodes, they meet the Grays and Braithwaites, two rival families potentially hoarding civil war gold. The gang works for both families to pit them against each other, but both families find out they have been played by the gang, resulting in an ambush by the Grays that kills Sean at Rhodes, and the Braithwaites kidnapping John's son, Jack. The gang slaughters both families in retaliation, and learn that Jack has been sold to crime lord Angelo Bronte.
Dutch, John, and Arthur head to Bronte's mansion in Saint Denis to confront Bronte and retrieve Jack. Bronte returns Jack and embraces the gang, but then leads them into a trap. In retaliation, Dutch kidnaps Bronte with the gang and feeds him to an alligator, murdering him. At this point, Dutch has grown convinced that there is no future for the gang in the United States and leads them into a Saint Denis bank robbery to gather enough money to move overseas. The Pinkertons intervene, and Milton executes Hosea in front of the gang. A shootout ensues, in which Lenny is killed and John is arrested. Arthur, Dutch, Bill, Javier, and Micah escape on a boat to Cuba.
A torrential storm sinks the ship, and the men wash ashore the isle of Guarma, where they become embroiled in a war between the tyrannical sugar plantation owners and the enslaved local population. The group successfully aids the revolution against the plantation owners and secures transport back to the United States. The group reunites with the rest of the gang. After fending off a Pinkerton assault on the camp, Dutch becomes paranoid that a gang member is working as an informant, causing their failures. After relocating again, Dutch obsesses over one last heist. Although he insists that they must wait to liberate John, Arthur and Sadie disobey Dutch to rescue him. Soon after, Dutch manipulates a local Native American tribe into conflict with the United States Army to draw attention away from the gang, against Arthur's wishes. Dutch begins to doubt Arthur's loyalty, in part facilitated by Micah Bell's manipulations, who has eagerly taken Hosea's role as Dutch's right-hand man.
Meanwhile, Arthur becomes concerned that Dutch is no longer the man he knew, increasingly resorting to murder and paranoia, and abandoning their ideals. Arthur later discovers that he has contracted tuberculosis while collecting a debt from a diseased farmer, Thomas Downes, giving him only a short time to live. Faced with his own mortality, Arthur reflects on his actions and how to protect the gang following his death.
Several gang members become disenchanted and leave, while Dutch and Micah arrange one final heist of an Army payroll train. Arthur convinces John that following the heist he must leave and start a new life with his family. Dutch later murders Cornwall, blaming him for the Pinkerton's actions. Arthur's faith in Dutch is finally shattered when he leaves John for dead during the heist and refuses to rescue Abigail when she is captured by Milton. Arthur disobeys Dutch's orders and rescues Abigail, with Sadie's help. During the rescue, Arthur is ambushed by Milton, who reveals that Micah has been working as an informant for the Pinkertons since their return from Guarma before he is killed by Abigail.
Before Arthur heads back to camp to confront Micah, he tells the women to leave for safety, bidding them farewell. Arthur arrives at the camp telling Dutch that Micah is the Pinkertons informant with the latter denying it. This initiates a standoff between Arthur and Micah. John unexpectedly appears telling Dutch he left him to die. Arthur tells everyone to pick their side and the gang is dissolved with Susanand John siding with him. Javier announces that Pinkertons have arrived which distracted Susan allowing Micah to fatally shoot her. Dutch draws his guns and tells everyone who is ''with him'' and ''betraying him''. Bill, Javier, Micah, Joe, and Cleet joins Dutch's side against John and Arthur. Before anything could happen, Pinkertons led by Edgar Ross launch an assault on Beaver Hollow, but all six manage to flee into the wilderness. Arthur accepts his fate and either buys John time to escape by confronting the Pinkertons, or heads back to camp to retrieve Dutch's money stash. After either option, Micah ambushes Arthur and Dutch intervenes in their fight. Arthur convinces Dutch to leave Micah with the latter telling him to join him and get the Blackwater money. Dutch abandons both men and Micah angrily leaves. If played honorably, Arthur succumbs to his tuberculosis and injuries and peacefully dies facing the sunrise with a Buck basking under the sun. If played dishonorably, Micah executes him with a Coyote under the rain.
Eight years later, John is attempting to lead an honest life and provide a living for Abigail and their son Jack. Finding work at a local ranch, John is forced to fight back against a group of outlaws threatening his employer. Believing that John will never escape his old life, Abigail leaves with Jack. In order to convince Abigail he's changed, John buys a plot of land with the intention of turning it into a ranch. He reunites with several surviving gang members, including Uncle, Sadie, and Charles, who help John build his ranch and provide him with jobs to pay off his bank loans. Upon Abigail's return, John proposes to her. Eventually, Sadie comes across information of that one of Micah's men is in Strawberry and informs Charles and John. Abigail pleads John not to go but he tells her to understand that if it ain't for Arthur, everything they worked for including the ranch wouldn't exist. John leaves with Sadie and Charles to avenge Arthur. The trio came across Cleet and threaten to hang him if he wouldn't tell them where Micah is. Cleet then reveals that he is at Mount Hagen with his gang and that they fell out because of Micah killing a little girl. Cleet will either be hanged or shot by Sadie.
After arriving at Micah's camp, Charles and Sadie are wounded by his men, forcing John to continue alone. After gunning down several of Micah's men, including Joe, John confronts Bell and Sadie corners Micah. Dutch unexpectedly appears with Micah taking Sadie hostage and initiates a mexican standoff between the three. After an exchange of words, Dutch shoots Bell for betraying the gang, Micah tries kill both men but John manages to end Micah for good. With Bell dead, John tries to thank Dutch but he leaves without saying a word. John then discovers that Bell had since recovered the money stash left behind in Blackwater, and uses it to fully pay off his loan. Later, John formally marries Abigail, and they both look forward to living a new life on their ranch, alongside Uncle and Jack, while Charles leaves for Canada to start a family there and Sadie leaves for South America.
The fates of surviving gang members are revealed in newspaper articles, letters, NPC dialogue, random encounters, and several mid-credit scenes: Pearson became the proprietor of the general store in Rhodes, Swanson became a priest in New York, Tilly married a lawyer, Mary-Beth became a romance novelist, Karen presumably died of Alcoholism, and Strauss was arrested and killed in captivity, staying loyal to the gang and revealing none of the gang's secrets. Meanwhile, Agent Ross, now working for the Bureau of Investigation, discovers Bell's corpse. He and his partner Archer Fordham follow the trail straight to John's ranch, foreshadowing the events of the first game four years later.
Upon 100% completion, a scene will play, depicting John Marston visiting Arthur Morgan's grave after getting revenge on Micah. John looks at the grave to which he says "I guess we're just about done, my friend."
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