The Bend in the River chronicles five close friends over nearly fifty years. Starting in 1978, director Robb Moss documents his friend's outdoor rent-free life during one clothing-optional rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. In 2003, he filmed his friends again coming to terms with their transition from being young and carefree to responsible and middle-aged. Now, in 2025, Moss finds his friends in their 70s grappling with the choices they’ve made as individuals and as a generation. The film interweaves moments from the distant past with those of the recent present, taking viewers back-and-forth through time and inviting personal reflections on the inexorable flow of aging and the unfinished project of living.