This is not a biopic about the defunct British tabloid newspaper of the same name, but a road trip Western drama exploring the intergenerational bonding between an old man and a young girl who have both experienced loss and trauma.

A kindly Civil War veteran (Tom Hanks) who travels from town to town reading the news undertakes a perilous journey across Texas to return an orphaned German girl (Helena Zengel) taken and raised by Native Americans as an infant to her surviving relatives.