Chance grows up restricted to a garden and bedroom in the Old Man's house, knowing nothing of the outside world.

The Old Man dies; Chance enters the bedroom for the first time and quietly says goodbye to the body.

The Old Man's lawyers arrive and inform Chance he must vacate the premises by the following day.

Carrying a suitcase of the Old Man's clothes, Chance walks through the garden gate into the outside world for the first time.

A black limousine reverses into Chance on a city street, pinning his leg against a parked car.

When Chance introduces himself as 'Chance, the gardener,' EE mishears this as the name 'Chauncey Gardiner.'

Benjamin Rand meets Chance and interprets his honest description of gardening as a sophisticated business metaphor.

Rand tells Chance that the President of the United States will be paying a visit to the house.

The President asks Chance about the struggling economy; Chance responds by describing how seasons change in a garden.

The President quotes Chance's garden remarks during a nationally televised address to a financial institute.

Chance agrees to appear on the popular television news program This Evening and impresses viewers with his garden analogies.

Rand congratulates Chance on the interview and asks him to accompany EE to a United Nations reception.

Soviet Ambassador Skrapinov approaches Chance at the United Nations gathering and attempts to probe his political views.

A politician's advisors choose Chance as a potential running mate, citing his lack of a documented past as an asset.

At a gala, Chance slips away from the noisy crowd and stands alone in a garden, calm and untouched by fame.

Chance is a cognitively limited young man who has spent his entire life as a gardener in a wealthy man's house, knowing the outside world only through television. When his benefactor dies, lawyers force him to leave, and a street accident brings him into the home of powerful financier Benjamin Rand. Rand and his wife EE mistake Chance's simple gardening observations for sophisticated economic wisdom and introduce him to the highest levels of society. The President of the United States takes Chance's garden metaphors as profound economic commentary and quotes him in a national address, launching Chance into celebrity. His appearance on a popular news program cements his reputation as a political pundit, and he becomes a sought-after figure at elite gatherings. By the story's end, he is being seriously considered as a political running mate, even as he quietly slips away to find peace in a garden.

Chance's accidental rise from obscure gardener to political celebrity.

Chance tends the garden with meditative care and spends his evenings watching television in his room.

A maid finds the Old Man slumped dead in bed and shouts into the phone while Chance listens from the hallway.

The Old Man's lawyers question Chance about his background and find no official documents proving his residence.

Before leaving the house, Chance packs a suitcase with the Old Man's expensive, well-tailored clothes.

After the limousine accident, EE insists Chance come home with her so a doctor can examine his injured leg.

A doctor examines Chance's leg at the Rand home, gives him an injection, and confirms no bones are broken.

EE tells Chance she would like him to remain at the Rand home, and Chance agrees.

Rand invites Chance to meet the board members of the First American Financial Corporation once he has rested.

Secret Service agents search the Rand home thoroughly in advance of the President's scheduled visit.

The New York Times contacts Chance for economic commentary; he refuses, and they print a story calling him a Wall Street insider.

Lawyer Franklin watches Chance's television interview and feels a vague, unplaced sense that he has seen him before.

Rand suffers a serious relapse of his illness, and EE arranges a personal secretary for Chance.

At the United Nations reception, EE introduces Chance to prominent political figures who praise his television appearance.

When journalists ask about his reading habits, Chance admits he watches television rather than reads newspapers, stunning the press.

Soviet intelligence cannot find any background on Chance and assigns him the codename 'Blank Page,' suspecting a secret identity.

Before his journey begins, Chance passes his days tending a garden and absorbing the world through television, having never left the property he grew up in. The Old Man's death sets off a chain of events: a maid raises the alarm, lawyers find Chance undocumented, and he is forced to pack his belongings and leave. He arrives at the Rand estate after a street accident, where a doctor tends his leg and EE persuades him to stay on as a guest. The Rand household provides Chance with entirely new experiences — meeting doctors, Secret Service agents, and board members — all of whom accept him as sophisticated and credible. His television interview and refusal to engage with newspapers further cement his reputation, while those around him struggle and fail to uncover any trace of who he really is. Soviet intelligence ultimately assigns him a secret codename, convinced his blank record is proof of a hidden identity rather than a simple life as a gardener.

The supporting moments that shape Chance's unexpected journey.

The Old Man warns young Chance that straying from the garden or bedroom will result in being sent to an institution.

The new maid cannot vouch for Chance's identity, leaving him with no witness to confirm his years in the household.

Chance refuses to sign the lawyers' document, carefully concealing from them that he cannot read.

Stepping outside for the first time, Chance finds the street and city familiar because he has seen it all on television.

Rand hears Chance describe working in the garden and praises what he takes to be a profound metaphor about economic recovery.

Chance watches the President's helicopter land on television, moments before meeting the President in person at the house.

EE enters Chance's room and tries to initiate a sexual encounter, but Chance shows no physical response to her advances.

EE interprets Chance's total lack of sexual response as exceptional moral restraint and tells him she is in love with him.

After the President quotes Chance in a televised speech, newspapers declare Chance the President's chief economic advisor.

Based on Chance's enigmatic replies, Skrapinov becomes convinced Chance speaks Russian and understands Krylov's fables.

Publisher Stiegler invites Chance to write a book; when Chance says he cannot write or read, Stiegler misinterprets both admissions.

A man at a dinner party propositions Chance, who agrees but says he would simply prefer to watch.

EE pleasures herself in Chance's presence while he watches, telling him it is her most satisfying intimate experience.

A university contacts Chance to offer an honorary doctoral degree; Chance declines, saying he does not need a doctor.

The President privately speculates that Chance may be a deep-cover Soviet spy but ultimately dismisses the idea.

From childhood, Chance is kept ignorant of the world beyond his garden, threatened with institutionalization if he strays, and left without any legal identity or documentation. When the Old Man dies, Chance is unable to prove he exists to the lawyers and slips away into a world he knows only from television, finding it strangely familiar. Each encounter becomes a turning point: Rand reframes Chance's gardening talk as wisdom, EE falls in love with a man who cannot reciprocate, and Skrapinov becomes convinced a simple gardener is a master of Russian literary allusion. Chance's encounters with intimacy reveal how completely his worldview is shaped by watching rather than experiencing — he prefers to observe, and others find even this profound. As his fame grows, those in power search desperately for a hidden past that does not exist, and both governments interpret his blankness as evidence of importance. The story closes with institutions eager to honor a man who cannot grasp what is being offered, as unknowing at the end as he was at the beginning.