Ennis is a young man who was raised on a farm and knows nothing but farm work. Ennis is not a student of the world, he is not sophisticated, but a simple man. Ennis marries a young woman when he is only eighteen and has two children almost immediately. The marriage falls apart, but Ennis was never really in love with his wife. Ennis marries because it is expected, it is what he should do. Most everything Ennis does is because it is what he should do.
Ennis meets Jack Twist while working on Brokeback Mountain the summer before he marries. Jack and Ennis begin a love affair during this summer that was neither planned nor expected. Neither man is prepared for the depth of their feelings for one another. Ennis in particular is afraid of his relationship with Jack because he has seen what cruel people can do to people who are different. Ennis cannot stand the idea of ending his relationship with Jack, but he understands prejudice and fear, understands what it means to step outside of what is expected.