When Monica Long-Dutton (played by Kelsey Asbille) was missing from the “Yellowstone” spin-off trailer, fans suspected the worst, and the premiere episode of “Marshals” confirmed their fears. Monica succumbed to cancer, yet her presence lingers throughout “Piya Wiconi.”

Her passing leaves Monica’s husband Kayce (Luke Grimes) and their son Tate (Brecken Merrill) grappling with their loss. Kayce is engulfed in loneliness and a sense of aimlessness, while Tate channels his grief into rebellion and activism, joining his maternal relatives at the Broken Rock Reservation. Meanwhile, Thomas Rainwater (Gil Birmingham) and his associates are battling government plans to expand mining operations near a tribal river. The development threatens to further pollute a waterway already tainted by past mining activities, which have increased cancer rates in the community—Monica being among the victims.

Tate cannot understand why Kayce chooses to side with the US Marshals over his mother’s people. Kayce begins to question if he’s putting his pursuit of justice above Monica’s memory. A turning point comes when Thomas is injured in a bombing at a protest, prompting Kayce to join the marshals in hunting down the attackers. This mission leads him to reconsider the traditional Dutton path he has been following, realizing it may not suit him or his son.

Finally confronting the militia behind the attack, Kayce confides in a recovering Thomas Rainwater and decides it’s time for him and Tate to move forward. In a heartfelt conversation on their porch, Kayce confesses to Tate that he has been trying to impose the Dutton legacy on him, despite his own struggles to escape it. Tate admits that he might not want to continue managing the land Kayce fought so hard to secure.

After Kayce tracks down the militia members who caused the bombing, he consults with an on-the-mend Thomas Rainwater. Kayce finally realizes it’s time that he and Tate start to move on with their lives. He has a proper heart-to-heart with his boy. As they sit on their front porch, Kayce admits he’s been trying to force Tate to follow the Dutton code after struggling so hard to get away from Yellowstone and his own tainted birthright. He doesn’t want his son to simply walk in his shoes, and Tate finally admits aloud that he might not want to tend the land Kayce’s worked so hard to attain.

“The only thing more cruel than losing a parent is losing the wrong one,” Kayce remarks poignantly, perhaps thinking of his own mother’s accidental death – but definitely wishing Monica were still there. He promises he won’t cut Tate out of his life for choosing a new path. “This camp is your home. It’s not your destiny,” he says. Having lost so much of his kin, the idea of losing another member of the Dutton family tree is ultimately too much for Kayce to bear. Monica — who only ever wanted Kayce to put her and Tate first instead of the Dutton name — would definitely be proud of him.