The Mountain Between Us

The Mountain Between Us (2010) is a survival romance novel by Charles Martin. It tells the story of Ben Payne, a surgeon who becomes trapped in the remote Utah wilderness with writer Ashley Knox. The novel interweaves Ben’s personal history with his growing feelings for Ashley as they rely on each other for survival, and their love begins to pose a potential complication in the lives to which they hope to return. Through their journey, the novel explores themes relating to The Healing Power of Love, Hope as a Driving Force in Humanity, and The Resilience of the Human Spirit. The Mountain Between Us was adapted into a 2017 film of the same name starring Idris Elba and Kate Winslet.

This guide refers to the 2010 first paperback edition published by Broadway Paperbacks.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of death, child abuse, pregnancy loss, and animal death.

Plot Summary

Thirty-nine-year-old Ben Payne is a surgeon who lives in Jacksonville, Florida. He’s finishing up a medical conference in Colorado Springs, where he spent most of his time hiking. While he works on patient notes in the Salt Lake City Airport, 34-year-old Ashley Knox, a magazine writer from Atlanta, Georgia, approaches him. She asks about his work, and he explains that he largely works in orthopedics, performing surgeries on young athletes. He tells her that he and his wife, Rachel, have two four-year-old twins. Ashley is on her way home to marry her fiancé, Vince.

The narrative shifts between Ben’s and Ashley’s stories and Ben’s narration as he records messages to Rachel while trapped in the wilderness. He recalls important events in their relationship, starting with when they met in high school. Rachel was a cross-country runner, and Ben changed his schedule to spend time with her after seeing her run. He was a track star and was motivated to run by his abusive father. His father woke him up each morning at five o’clock, forcing him to run several miles and work out. No matter how successful Ben was at running—winning state championships and setting records—his father pushed him to do better.

After their flight is canceled due to a snowstorm, Ben goes to the private airport, and a man named Grover agrees to fly Ben to Denver, where he hopes to find a redeye flight to beat the storm. At the last minute, Ben returns to the airport and invites Ashley to join him.

As they fly, Grover explains that they’re over the High Uintas Wilderness. He flies low enough that he doesn’t need to file a flight plan, meaning that his flights and passengers are unrecorded. As he talks, Grover has a heart attack. The plane crashes violently into the ground, and Ben blacks out.

Ben recalls spending the rest of high school with Rachel. They were initially friends but started dating in their last year. Ben won three events and set three state records. In his final race, he was on pace to break a four-minute time in the mile. However, thinking of his father on the final lap, Ben intentionally slowed down, setting a state record but falling just short of four minutes. At home, Ben’s father broke Ben’s nose in anger. From that point on, he no longer trained Ben, allowing him to run with Rachel for the joy of it.

Ben wakes up in the wilderness. The crash formed a cave from rocks, the plane itself, and fallen snow. He and Ashley are largely protected from the elements; however, he has broken ribs, and Ashley has several injuries. He puts her shoulder back in its socket, resets and splints her broken leg, and stitches several cuts on her head. As he surveys the land, he sees no trace of man-made structures for dozens of miles. However, he has several important items from his backpack and the plane, including fishing gear, a Jetboil heater, sleeping bags, painkillers, and a crossbow.

Over the next several days, Ben cares for Ashley. He talks in his recorder to Rachel, telling her about their situation and his fear that Ashley won’t survive. He recalls his time with Rachel in college when they continued to run together. In their final year, Ben proposed to her, and they married shortly after graduating. They both pursued careers in medicine. When they moved from Denver to Florida, Rachel gave Ben the recorder he’s now using. She recorded an entire day’s worth of messages for him to listen to while he drove, imploring him to use the recorder moving forward so that they could always be close to each other, no matter where they were.

Ben catches several fish for food. When he notices mountain lion tracks around their campsite, he uses Grover’s body as bait and kills it. Although they’re surviving, Ashley’s leg injury is causing her extreme pain, and she’s unable to move. He eventually decides that they need to find a way out. He builds a stretcher out of the plane’s wings and then packs up their belongings. Over the next several days, he pulls Ashley through the snow, despite his painful rib injury.

Ben talks into the recorder, recalling the happiest memory of his life: the day he learned that Rachel was pregnant with twins. He realized that she saved him by giving his life purpose and happiness. Several months into her pregnancy, the placenta began to sever from her uterine wall, and she faced a decision: terminate the pregnancy to save her own life or risk both her twins and herself. She and Ben argued about what to do, with Ben insisting that she terminate her pregnancy because he couldn’t bear to lose her.

Ashley and Ben are cold, exhausted, and starving. Just as he’s on the verge of giving up, he spots something man-made in the distance. He barely manages to get them there, finding that it’s a collection of cabins. One has beds, a fireplace, firewood, hot water, and limited food. He and Ashley spend several days there, and both heal from their injuries.

They struggle to find food. Ben kills rabbits and eventually a moose. He realizes that they’re comfortable but that if they remain there, they might never be found. When he finds a small shack with sleds and snowshoes, he decides that they must keep moving toward what looks like a distant road.

Ashley hears Ben recording messages to Rachel. Ben tells Ashley that he and Rachel separated after an argument. Ashley confesses her attraction to Ben, but Ben insists that they owe it to Vince and Rachel to be loyal. Despite his words, he realizes that he has feelings for Ashley too.

Ben and Ashley travel for several days. They find a road, but the nearest town is 62 miles away. They continue walking and eventually see lights far off in the distance.

Ben decides to bypass a large portion of the road by cutting across a valley. However, on his way through it, the snow beneath him gives out. He flips the sled and falls deep into the snow. He struggles to get out and is on the verge of giving up when Ashley manages to help pull him from the snow. However, her leg has broken again, and this time, the bone protrudes through. He decides that he must run the rest of the way for help.

As Ben runs toward the town, he sees Ashley in his mind and starts to see visions of Rachel running alongside him. He realizes that he’s torn between the two. On the verge of collapse, Ben arrives at a cabin, where several young men help him. They take him on their snowmobiles back to Ashley and then call for medical evacuation by helicopter. After 27 days in the wilderness, Ben and Ashley are rescued.

Ben is taken to the hospital by ambulance. He oversees Ashley’s surgery and learns that her leg will heal. He calls Vince, who comes to the hospital to see Ashley.

Returning home, Ben visits Rachel. He plays all his recordings for her from the wilderness. At the end, he finds one from Ashley to Rachel. She implores Rachel to forgive Ben, insisting that their love is rare and that they should cherish it.

Ben avoids seeing Ashley. He goes to her wedding but stops before going in. Instead, he records a message for her on a new recorder, telling her that he loves her but that she needs to marry Vince. He leaves the recorder among her wedding gifts.

A few days later, Ashley shows up at Ben’s house. She insists that she wants to be with him. She asks to meet Rachel and Ben’s children, and the novel reveals that Rachel didn’t survive her pregnancy. Ben set up a shrine to her and her children, where he continues to leave flowers and recorders containing messages.

Ashley asks Ben to run with her as part of her rehabilitation. As they run up the beach, Ben feels hopeful that they can continue to heal together.