Salmon Fishing in the Yemen's messages are about the importance of peace, patience, tolerance, humility, and faith.

An assassin attempts to kill one of the characters with a gun; later, a dam is destroyed.

A woman takes off her pants and joins her boyfriend in bed (they're mostly shown cuddling). Earlier, they're seen kissing. Another couple is shown just finishing having sex (no nudity).

"F--k" is shown typed on a computer, with asterisks in place of most of the letters; later, a mother says the word while speaking to her teenage son. Also occasional use of words including "bloody hell," "bastard," "ass," "damn," "oh my God, " "goddamn," and "bollocks."

Mention of Target and the names of a few fishing magazines.

Some social drinking. One character smokes cigarettes.