Monica Dutton

**My job is to protect our son and the best way to do that is to keep him from your father, and to keep him from you.**
Monica Dutton

## Monica Dutton

### Relatives

* Kayce Dutton (Husband)
* Tate Dutton (Son)
* John Dutton IV (Son) †
* Robert Long (Brother) †
* Samantha Long (Sister-in-law) †
* Felix Long (Grandfather)
* Unnamed Grandmother
* John Dutton (Father-in-law)
* Evelyn Dutton (Mother-in-law) †
* Lee Dutton (Brother-in-law) †
* Jamie Dutton (Brother-in-law)
* Bethany Dutton (Sister-in-law)
* Jamie (Nephew)

### Affiliation

* Yellowstone Dutton Ranch
* Broken Rock Reservation
* Heartsong Middle School
* Montana State University
* Dutton Family

### Occupation

* School Teacher
* College Professor

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Kelsey Asbille

**Monica Dutton** is the wife of Kayce Dutton and the mother of Tate Dutton.

## Biography

### Early Life

Monica is a Native American and lifelong resident of Broken Rock Indian Reservation. Her marriage to Kayce Dutton put the couple in a difficult position between the Yellowstone Ranch, the Dutton family and the Native Americans of Broken Rock. She was a faculty member at Heartsong Middle School and then took a job at Montana State University.

Throughout the series, Monica is kept unaware of her brother's death early on, and after his widow commits suicide in what Monica considers a sacrifice for their children's welfare, she expresses to Kayce that she feels they ought to consider leaving the reservation to spare Tate the sadness of his cousins moving to Seattle to live with their grandparents.

In an effort to convince Kayce, Monica, and Tate to relocate to the Yellowstone Ranch, John and Jamie arrange for Mel Thompson of the Montana State University to offer Monica a job in their expanding liberal arts department as a Native American Studies adjunct professor while she studies for her doctorate. Monica declines, recognizing that the situation was engineered by John, noting that there are never new teachers waiting to replace one like her on a reservation. ("The Remembering")

One morning when Monica and Tate arrive at school they find two older students fighting. In an attempt to break up the brawl, Monica pulls on the larger boys arm, who ends up accidentally throwing her into the his adversaries swing. The punch knocks her unconscious and she hits her head on the pavement, causing a traumatic brain injury that requires emergency surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation. ("A Monster is Among Us")

As she remained wheelchair bound at the hospital, she came to the conclusion that despite loving Kayce, she needed to protect their son from the Dutton family and the danger their way of life brought.

By the second season, Monica has recovered from her injuries and returned to using her maiden name, Long, which she noted was previously *Longspear* before her great-grandfather was allegedly taken from his parents and given a Christian name by Catholic missionaries at a school funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. She meets with the president of Montana State University to tell him she's reconsidered his offer to join the faculty, but he informs her that the funds earmarked for her salary were reallocated for the current semester, but if she was willing to teach a single American History class that would get her foot in the door until the following semester when the funds would be available for her again. She intended to continue teaching days at the reservation's school and do afternoons and nights at the university.

She informed the university president she would be teaching an "alternate" view of American history as told from her perspective, starting with Columbus, and proceeded to present a radicalized version of early American history and America's founding from her of view on day one in her class. ("A Thundering", "New Beginnings")

After she cuts a fling with her physical therapist Martin short, Monica reunites with Kayce, moving herself and Tate on to Yellowstone Ranch with Kayce as he begins to step into his role as the future owner and operator of the ranch. Shortly after moving to the ranch, she witnesses the aftermath of Beth's assault at the hands of the Beck brother's enforcers. Beth reveals that what happened to her is something that can and does happen when you're involved in the Dutton's "family business", stoking Monica's fears and concerns over the safety of her and Tate being so close to the Duttons and their dealings. In the meantime, Monica seems to flirt more closely with a radicalized Native American identity as he contrasts herself and her life experience on the reservation with that of the Duttons on their ranch. ("Resurrection Day", "Behind Us Only Grey")

## Appearances

* *Kill the Messenger*
* *No Good Horses*
* *The Long Black Train*
* *Coming Home*
* *The Remembering*
* *A Monster is Among Us*
* *The Unravelling: Part 1*
* *The Unravelling: Part 2*
* *New Beginnings*
* *The Reek of Desperation*
* *Only Devils Left*
* *Touching Your Enemy*
* *Blood the Boy*
* *Resurrection Day*
* *Behind Us Only Grey*
* *Enemies by Monday*
* *Sins of the Father*

* *Freight Trains and Monsters*
* *An Acceptable Surrender*
* *Going Back to Cali*
* *Cowboys and Dreamers*
* *All for Nothing*
* *The Beating*
* *I Killed a Man Today*
* *Meaner Than Evil*
* *The World is Purple*
* *All I See is You*
* *Winning or Learning*
* *Under a Blanket of Red*
* *I Want to Be Him*
* *Keep the Wolves Close*
* *No Kindness for the Coward*
* *Grass on the Streets and Weeds on the Rooftops*

* *The Sting of Wisdom*
* *Tall Drink of Water*
* *Horses in Heaven*
* *Watch'em Ride Away*
* *Cigarettes, Whiskey, a Meadow and You*
* *The Dream is Not Me*
* *A Knife and No Coin*