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Stories Set in South Dakota

Stories Set in South Dakota — top stories

Rushmore granite, Badlands drama and Wounded Knee memory — South Dakota carves big stories into quiet land. Its tales echo from Deadwood to the Missouri bends.

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10 famous stories set in South Dakota

Live snapshot of the top 10 most popular catalogue items (2026-09-04). Click any card to open this entry on the live map.

Browse 30 books, 30 movies, 2 TV shows and 1 game set in South Dakota.

North by Northwest

North by Northwest

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
movie

Advertising man Roger Thornhill is mistaken for a spy triggering a deadly cross-country chase.

Setting: New York USA; Chicago, USA; South Dakota, USATime Period: 1950s
Dances with Wolves

Dances with Wolves

Tig Productions-Majestic Films International-Allied Filmmakers
movie

Wounded Civil War soldier John Dunbar tries to commit suicide—and becomes a hero instead. As a reward he's assigned to his dream post a remote junction on the Western frontier and soon makes unlikely friends with the…

Setting: South Dakota, USATime Period: American Civil War era
Badlands

Badlands

Pressman-Williams-Jill Jakes Production
movie

An impressionable teenage girl from a dead-end town and her older greaser boyfriend embark on a killing spree in the South Dakota badlands.

Setting: South Dakota, USATime Period: 1950s
National Treasure: Book of Secrets

National Treasure: Book of Secrets

Walt Disney Pictures-Jerry Bruckheimer Films-Saturn Films-Junction Entertainment-Sparkler Entertainment-NT2 Productions
movie

Benjamin Franklin Gates and Dr. Abigail Chase re-team with Riley Poole and now armed with a stack of long-lost pages from John Wilkes Booth's diary Ben must follow a clue left there to prove his ancestor's innocence in…

Setting: Washington D.C., USA; Paris, France; London, UK; South Dakota, USATime Period: 2007
Deadwood

Deadwood

tvshow

The story of the early days of Deadwood, South Dakota; woven around actual historic events with most of the main characters based on real people. Deadwood starts as a gold mining camp and gradually turns from a lawless…

Setting: Deadwood, South Dakota, USATime Period: Late 19th Century
Warehouse 13

Warehouse 13

D. Brent Mote
tvshow

After saving the life of the President, two secret service agents - Myka Bering and Pete Lattimer - find themselves assigned to the top secret Warehouse 13. The Warehouse is a massive, top secret facility that houses…

Setting: South Dakota, USATime Period: Contemporary 2000s-2010s
Deadwood: The Movie

Deadwood: The Movie

HBO Films
movie

Follow the 10-year reunion of the Deadwood camp to celebrate South Dakota's statehood. Former rivalries are reignited alliances are tested and old wounds are reopened as all are left to navigate the inevitable changes…

Setting: Deadwood, South Dakota, USATime Period: 1889
Only Human

Only Human

by Sylvain Neuvel
book

In her childhood, Rose Franklin accidentally discovered a giant metal hand buried beneath the ground outside Deadwood, South Dakota. As an adult, Dr. Rose Franklin led the team that uncovered the rest of the body parts…

Setting: Deadwood, South Dakota, USATime Period: Not known
Woman Walks Ahead

Woman Walks Ahead

Bedford Falls Productions-Potboiler Productions-Black Bicycle Entertainment
movie

Based on a true story this riveting western follows a headstrong New York widow as she journeys west to meet Sioux chief Sitting Bull facing off with an army officer intent on war with Native Americans.

Setting: South Dakota, USATime Period: 1890s
Songs My Brothers Taught Me

Songs My Brothers Taught Me

HEART-headed Productions-Highwayman Films-Forest Whitaker's Significant Productions-Film Independent-Nifty Productions-Standalone Productions
movie

This complex portrait of modern-day life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation explores the bond between a brother and his younger sister who find themselves on separate paths to rediscovering the meaning of home.

Setting: Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, South Dakota, USATime Period: 2015

The 10 stories above are just a sample of the 63 in the catalogue for this entry. For the full live catalogue with trailers and time filters, open South Dakota in the StoryTerra app. On the live map you can also filter by the exact time the stories take place — any year, decade or century, from BCE to the future.

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