Twenty years after his disappearance in 1908, an aged Butch Cassidy (Sam Shepard), living under the assumed name James Blackthorn in a secluded village in Bolivia, decides to end his long exile and return to the United States after learning of the death of Etta Place. He writes to her son, Ryan, who is in fact his own son, telling him he intends to return. After years of raising horses and living a solitary life, Blackthorn sets off for Potosí to sell his horses. He tells his lover, Yana (Magaly Solier), that he will see her again before leaving Bolivia.