Red Dead Redemption 1 follows former outlaw John Marston in 1911 as he's forced by the government to hunt down and kill his former gang members, Bill Williamson, Javier Escuela, and Dutch van der Linde, to secure his family's freedom and a pardon. Marston's journey takes him across the American West and into Mexico, where he confronts his past while navigating a changing world and the conflict between law and outlaw life.