Promised Land Episode Rating Graph

The Greenes are on their way to Cheyenne, Colorado when they stop to help a woman, Ellen Boller whose car has broken down on the road. Hattie becomes concerned when she notices bruises on the woman's young daughter, Sarah. Russell and Claire confront the mother and learn that she's running away from an abusive husband -- who happens to be the town sheriff (Sheriff Boller). While returning the girl's doll, Russell witnesses the abuse through the window, breaks into their house and rescues the woman and her daughter. Sheriff Boller keeps the Greenes under house arrest in their trailer until Russell returns his wife and daughter. Meanwhile, Ellen arranges for her sister-in-law Pauline to get proof of the abuse in the form of a videotape in order to prosecute. Along the way, we learn that Sheriff Boller has a long history of fear and intimidation to his credit. Boller intercepts a note and foils their plans.

The Greenes travel to Great Falls, Montana to visit Russell's cousin, Jeff, and his wife, Marie--and meet their six-month-old baby, Hailey. Jeff and Marie's marriage is under increasing strain since Hailey's birth and becoming legal guardian of Jeff's twenty-year old brother, Bob, who has Down's Syndrome. Part of the problem is that Jeff has not been attentive to his wife's needs--who is now overwhelmed. Worse still, Bob has become the scapegoat for all their problems. When Hattie learns that Jeff and Marie haven't had a night to themselves in six months, she insists they spend the night elsewhere while the Greenes watch Hailey and Bob. Claire notices that Bob is actually quite capable of helping with the baby--and has been wanting to have a greater role in his niece's life. Jeff and Marie return the next day, refreshed--and resolved to put Bob in an institution. Bob overhears the conversation and flees.

Excited about their upcoming anniversary and having Claire all to himself, Russell embraces her tightly to dance. This causes Claire to wince and later in the shower she discovers a painful lump in her breast. The following day Claire slips away to a local women's hospital alone. There she becomes fast friends with Rachel, a young woman she meets in the waiting room. Rachel becomes really shaken after learning she must face the mastectomy of her left breast. Everything's changed for her now. She's scared. Angry. Rachel decides to break things off with David, her fiancé. Claire consoles her on their drive home. Once at the trailer park, Claire gently finds the words to tell Russell of her own ordeal. At the hospital with Russell for the first time, Claire's mastectomy proves inconclusive. She must undergo a biopsy. The entire family is told of what Claire is facing. Josh and Dinah are quietly alarmed.

In spite of Hattie's protest, Russell picks up day labor working in a mine. Concerned for her son's safety, Hattie makes it perfectly clear that she doesn't approve. Fighting to stay on top of their orders and meet deadlines and low on manpower, taxed to the limit, it's a crisis waiting to happen. A support beam gives way, causing the mine to collapse, trapping twelve miners, including Russell. Her worst fears confirmed, Hattie is beside herself with worry–as are the rest of the family. Meanwhile, Russell struggles to keep the crew in the right frame of mind to weather the crisis. While in the mine, fighting for survival Russell is visited by his deceased father. Somewhere between dream and reality, Russell has a chance to clear away some unfinished business between he and his father. Finally, the rescue teams break through to the other side.

While in Washington, Dinah and Hattie get lost in a bad part of town on the way home from the market and stumble across a teenage girl named Allison sleeping on the streets. They bring Allison back to the trailer to learn that she is a runaway who has been separated from her brother Tommy through the bureaucracies of the local children's services agency. Russell and Claire contact an overworked social worker named Linda Paxton to help reunite Allison with her brother. Russell pays a visit to Tommy's last foster parent, Barbara Manning, who informs him that Tommy is dead. Russell and Claire break the new to Allison. Allison convinces Josh to take her to Barbara Manning to find out how Tommy died. Barbara tells Allison that her brother took his life. She tries to fill in some of the missing pieces but is finally at a loss to explain what led Tommy to take his life. Allison runs off and hitches a ride to the rail overpass where Tommy committed suicide.

The Greenes go to Post Falls, Idaho to place Josh in a special institute for the blind, and visit some old friends from North Carolina, Ned and Eileen Bernhart. Ned sets Russell up with an interview at the company where he works, Post Falls Furniture. Russell seems a shoe-in for a machine room supervisor position. Though Hattie reminds him about his ""directive"" from the angels, Russell finds a way to rationalize the idea of settling down, perhaps buying a house. Russell is thrown for a loop when he realizes he's been passed over for a younger, less qualified applicant. Then Ned gets the news that he's been ""downsized"" out of his job despite a stellar record of job performance for nine years. Russell convinces Ned to consult a lawyer about possible age discrimination. Though inexperienced, Joel Corwin, fresh out of law school, is the right man for the price. Eileen is more concerned about losing the four months severance package Ned's been offered.

A conflict has erupted as a mining company is in the process of tearing down Lester Beneally's hogan (ceremonial place). The tribal police (some of whom are Native Americans themselves) try to enforce the relocation papers they claim he signed before his death. Raymond (Lester's son) swears the signature is forged, and is trying to do everything in his power to stop them. When U.S. Marshals arrive to force the confrontation, Jesse Rainbird (Raymond's cousin and a tribal officer caught in the middle, torn between the law he is hired to enforce and his own heritage) tries to mediate a peaceful intervention–but instead is forced to watch his cousin gunned down by government forces. Russell wakes from a dream with a premonition that his old friend Jesse is in trouble. Only a couple hundred miles from the reservation, Russell and Claire decide to forgo their plans for a family trip to the Grand Canyon to visit Jesse and his family.