Movies like A Civilized Life (2018)
The best movies like A Civilized Life (2018) are Love's Enduring Promise (2004), Love's Abiding Joy (2006) and Love's Long Journey (2005). If A Civilized Life hooked you, these 20 similar films are what to watch next, and every pick says why it matches.
Quick picks
- Highest ratedTrain Dreams (2025)7.3/10 from 1,263 votes
- NewestTrain Dreams (2025)Released 2025
Love's Enduring Promise (2004)
In the 1800s frontier, Missie Davis is a bright and beautiful schoolteacher whose love for the prairie is matched only by her passion for books. When Missie encounters Grant, a handsome New England railroad executive, she feels as though she's met a hero from one of her novels.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove's Abiding Joy (2006)
The continued Westward journey of settlers Missie and Willie Lahaye. Their roots now firmly planted as they set up homestead in the far West, Missie begins to realize her passion for teaching as Willie cares for the couple's young daughter Kathy while expanding the family ranch with a little help from sons Jeff and Matthew. When the frontier railroad comes to town, the pleasure of a long-promised visit from Missie's father Clark is suddenly offset by the tragic death of young Kathy. As the untimely demise of their beloved daughter begins to drive an emotional wedge between Missie and Willie, the devastated father unexpectedly accepts an offer made by the powerful Samuel Doros to assume the role of town sheriff. Their faith shaken and their once close-knit bond suddenly torn asunder, Missie and Willie desperately attempt to bring their crumbling family back together as son Jeff faces a series of dangers while hopelessly falling for Doros' beautiful daughter Colette.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove's Long Journey (2005)
Missie's surprise pregnancy sets her on a new course that is both thrilling and terrifying. After all the planning and dreaming, she and her husband Willie are headed west in a covered wagon, leaving behind the prairie home of Missie's parents. Now, caught between the excitement of the new adventure and the pain of not knowing when she'll see her family again, Missie copes with the challenges, and cherishes the rewards, of her new homestead.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisLove Takes Wing (2009)
Belinda Simpson is now a doctor in a small Missouri town where an unknown plague is spreading fear and resentment amoung the townspeople. One local resident thinks the illness was spread from the town orphanage and wants to see it shut down. Belinda struggles to make sense of the disease and God's plan for the beleaguered town.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Apple Dumpling Gang (1975)
A roving bachelor gets saddled with three children and a wealth of trouble when the youngsters stumble upon a huge gold nugget. They join forces with two bumbling outlaws to fend off the greedy townspeople and soon find themselves facing a surly gang of sharpshooters.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove's Unfolding Dream (2007)
Centers on Missy's adopted daughter Belinda Tyler as she follows her dream. Belinda wants to be a doctor, but this time period does not look kindly on women with careers, especially one in the medical field. But Belinda is a strong-minded woman and deeply wants a career as a doctor. She manages to prove her abilities while assisting the local doctor and caring for an old woman who recently experienced a stroke. Belinda nurses her back to health and helps her regain the use of her arm again. Belinda also meets the nephew of their deceased neighbor. Drew comes to town to get his uncle's farm in shape to sell. After that he intends on returning to New York to join his father's law practice. He has no desire to stay in this small, unsophisticated town. But after meeting Belinda he has second thoughts. Belinda also feels something for Drew, but she is conflicted because she wants to be a doctor...
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Claim (2000)
A prospector sells his wife and daughter to another gold miner for the rights to a gold mine. Twenty years later, the prospector is a wealthy man who owns much of the old west town named Kingdom Come. But changes are brewing and his past is coming back to haunt him. A surveyor and his crew scouts the town as a location for a new railroad line and a young woman suddenly appears in the town and is evidently the man's daughter.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTrain Dreams (2025)
A logger leads a life of quiet grace as he experiences love and loss during an era of monumental change in early 20th-century America.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisThe Shooting (1966)
Two miners agree to guide a mysterious woman, who has appeared in their camp from nowhere, to a nearby town; but soon, because of her erratic behavior, they begin to suspect that her true purpose is quite different.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisTerror on the Prairie (2022)
A pioneering family fights back against a gang of vicious outlaws that is terrorizing them on their newly-built farm on the plains of Montana.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Unholy Trinity (2025)
Set against the turbulent backdrop of 1870s Montana, in the moments before the execution of Isaac Broadway, he gives his estranged son, Henry, an impossible task: murder the man who framed him for a crime he didn’t commit. Intent on fulfilling his promise, Henry travels to the remote town of Trinity, where an unexpected turn of events traps him in town and leaves him caught between Gabriel Dove, the town’s upstanding new sheriff, and a mysterious figure named St. Christopher.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMcCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
A gambler and a prostitute become thriving business partners in a remote Old West mining town until a large corporation arrives on the scene.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Worth the HypeMovies like thisTwo Rode Together (1961)
Two tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisHorizon: An American Saga - Chapter 1 (2024)
In 1859, families discover the lure of the Old West as they settle in territories from Wyoming to Kansas. Meanwhile, a gruff cowboy finds himself on the run with a prostitute and a young boy after killing a fellow gunman.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisMy Brilliant Career (1979)
A young woman who is determined to maintain her independence finds herself at odds with her family who wants her to tame her wild side and get married.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisLove Comes Softly (2003)
Nineteen year old pioneer woman Marty has recently married. She goes west with her husband Clem, hoping to start a new life. But Clem unexpectedly dies, and Marty finds herself alone, two months pregnant. Widower Clark offers her a marriage of convenience: she needs food and money, and he needs someone to take care of his daughter Missie. She accepts his proposal as a temporary solution.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Missing (2003)
When rancher and single mother of two Maggie Gilkeson sees her teenage daughter, Lily, kidnapped by Apache rebels, she reluctantly accepts the help of her estranged father, Samuel, in tracking down the kidnappers. Along the way, the two must learn to reconcile the past and work together if they are going to have any hope of getting Lily back before she is taken over the border and forced to become a prostitute.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisThe Safety of Objects (2002)
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisFalling for Christmas (2022)
An engaged, spoiled hotel heiress finds herself in the care of a handsome, blue-collar lodge owner and his precocious daughter after getting amnesia in a skiing accident.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
Popcorn FlickMovies like thisDay of Reckoning (2025)
Put-upon lawman John Dorsey is on the verge of losing his wife and his job as sheriff, so he posses up with bullish U.S. Marshall Butch Hayden to hold outlaw Emily Rusk hostage. A battle of wills ensues as Emily turns the posse on themselves, but as her marauding husband and his gang approach, Emily and John realize they will need each other to survive.
Why it matches: Recommended by TMDB viewers
SnoozefestMovies like this
Like A Civilized Life and something else?
Blend two favourites and we’ll find the films in between.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best movies like A Civilized Life?
The closest matches to A Civilized Life are Love's Enduring Promise (2004), Love's Abiding Joy (2006) and Love's Long Journey (2005). Below are 17 more, each with the reason it matches.
What should I watch after A Civilized Life?
Start with Love's Enduring Promise (2004), the closest match to A Civilized Life.
What is the highest-rated movie like A Civilized Life?
Train Dreams (2025), rated 7.3/10 by 1,263 TMDB users.
What is the newest movie like A Civilized Life?
Train Dreams (2025) is the most recent release on this list.
Are there English movies like A Civilized Life?
Yes: Love's Enduring Promise (2004), Love's Abiding Joy (2006) and Love's Long Journey (2005).
How are movies similar to A Civilized Life chosen?
First come films that Trakt’s viewers watch alongside A Civilized Life, then TMDB’s recommendations and films it rates as similar in story and genre. Each pick says which signal put it there.