Ennis and Jack, two cowboys who fall in love.
To me, "Brokeback Mountain" is so much more than merely a "gay cowboy movie". It perfectly captures what true, unbridled love is all about and this love transcends any issues of sexuality or gender.
Brokeback Mountain is the story of Ennis del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), two young men who meet and fall in love on a sheep-herding job on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. The film documents their complex relationship over the next twenty years.
After the two part ways at the end of their job, Ennis marries Alma Beers (Michelle Williams) and starts a family. Jack moves to Texas where he meets Lureen Newsome (Anne Hathaway), whom he subsequently marries.
Four years later, Ennis receives a postcard from Jack saying that he will soon be in town and he hopes Ennis will want to see him again. Ennis replies back with a card reading "You bet." The two men reunite and find their passion is as strong as ever. Jack broaches the subject of creating a life together operating a small ranch. Ennis, haunted by a childhood memory of the murder of a man suspected of being homosexual, fears that such an arrangement could only end in tragedy. He is also unwilling to leave his family.
As the years pass, Ennis's marriage deteriorates. Alma eventually divorces him and takes custody of their children. Jack hopes that Ennis's divorce will allow them to live together at last, but Ennis refuses to move away from his daughters. Unable to be open about their relationship, Ennis and Jack settle for infrequent meetings on camping trips in the mountains over the next years.
Several months after their last meeting, Ennis learns that Jack has died when a postcard Ennis sent to him is returned, stamped "deceased." In a strained telephone conversation, Jack's wife Lureen tells Ennis that Jack died in an accident. As she explains, a brief scene of Jack being murdered illustrates Ennis's fears that Jack's death was not truly accidental. At the end of their conversation, Lureen tells Ennis that Jack wished to have his ashes scattered on Brokeback Mountain. She suggests that Ennis contact Jack's parents about this.
Ennis visits Jack's parents and offers to take Jack's ashes to Brokeback Mountain. Jack's father refuses, insisting that Jack's remains be buried in the family plot. Jack's mother is more welcoming, and allows Ennis to see Jack's boyhood bedroom. Ennis discovers two old shirts hidden in the back of the bedroom closet. The shirts, hung on the same hanger, are the ones the two men were wearing on their last day on Brokeback Mountain in 1963. Ennis had believed he left his shirt on the mountain, but Jack had actually taken it home with him. Jack's mother gives Ennis both shirts to keep.
At the film's end, Ennis reconciles with his estranged oldest daughter and promises to attend her upcoming wedding. After she leaves, he opens his closet door to reveal that he has hung the two shirts together, alongside a postcard of Brokeback Mountain.
