Both of Jayber's parents die in the flu pandemic, and young Jonah is sent to live with Aunt Cordie and Uncle Othy.

After both Aunt Cordie and Uncle Othy die, ten-year-old Jonah is sent to The Good Shepherd orphanage.

Jonah leaves the orphanage to study for the ministry at Pigeonville College but struggles deeply with questions of faith.

Professor Dr. Ardmire encourages Jonah to abandon becoming a pastor but to keep seeking answers to his spiritual questions.

Jonah journeys back toward Port William through the historic Great Flood, navigating closed roads and rising floodwaters.

Jonah meets Burley Coulter fishing on the flooded river, and Burley leads him to a barbershop for sale.

With help from Mat Feltner and Burley Coulter, Jonah purchases the Port William barbershop and makes it his home.

From his shop window, Jayber sees young Mattie Keith leaving school for the first time and falls instantly in love.

Troy Chatham and Mattie Keith marry, and Troy begins pushing to expand the Keith family farm against Athey's wishes.

Five-year-old Liddie Chatham is struck and killed by a passing car while gathering wildflowers near a roadside.

Jayber abandons his date Clydie at a Christmas dance after spotting Troy dancing with another woman.

Athey Keith dies, leaving Troy in control of the family farm, which Troy immediately drives into crippling debt.

Jimmy Chatham enlists in the army and is killed in action in Vietnam; Jayber digs his grave.

A health inspector cites Jayber's barbershop for lacking hot water, prompting Jayber to close the shop and move to the river.

Jayber visits a dying Mattie in the hospital, and she gives him the smile confirming she has always loved him.

Jayber Crow is born in rural Kentucky, orphaned young, and raised by relatives before being sent to an orphanage after they too die. After failing at seminary and drifting in the city, he returns home through the Great Flood of 1937, finding his calling as a barber with the help of Burley Coulter and Mat Feltner. His quiet life is transformed when he falls in love with Mattie Keith, who soon marries Troy Chatham, a man whose arrogance and recklessness Jayber deeply despises. Tragedy marks the decades that follow as both of Mattie's children die young and Athey Keith's cherished farm is squandered by Troy's ambition. After thirty-two years as Port William's barber, Jayber retires to a river camp, where his long-held love for Mattie is finally confirmed in their last meeting before she dies.

The defining moments of Jayber Crow's life in Port William.

Young Jonah watches steamboats unload at the river dock and accompanies Uncle Othy to deliver groceries to the blind man Dark Tom.

At The Good Shepherd orphanage, J. becomes assistant to the school barber Clark and begins learning the barbering trade.

Feeling called to preach, J. speaks in chapel and enjoys his newfound favor with Brother Whitespade but privately feels like an imposter.

J. finds work in Lexington with alcoholic barber Skinner Hawes, cleaning the shop and advertising to win back lost customers.

J. sinks into loneliness and depression in Lexington, feeling disconnected from his roots, and decides to leave the city.

Sam Hanks visits the barbershop for a haircut; Jayber confesses his earlier lie and tries to return the five-dollar bill.

Burley Coulter invites the newly settled Jayber to a secret moonshine-drinking party of Port William men held in the woods.

Cecelia Overhold crashes the Grandstand party, smashes the bottles in fury, and hurls a rock that chips Jayber's tooth.

Uncle Stanley Gibbs retires, and Jayber takes over as Port William's gravedigger and church steward to build his savings.

Tom Coulter, Burley's nephew, is killed fighting in North Africa during World War II, and Burley grieves in the barbershop.

Jayber meets Clydie Greatlow at the Rosebud Cafe in Hargrave and the two begin spending time together as companions.

Jayber helps Mattie run vacation Bible school at the church and is overwhelmed by love watching her with the children.

Athey Keith is injured falling from a ladder and moves with Della into a smaller place closer to town.

Mattie secretly asks Jayber for bail money to free her son Jimmy from jail without Troy finding out.

Jayber and Burley build a boat together at the river camp, and Burley teaches Jayber to fish properly.

From watching steamboats on the Kentucky River as a child to learning barbering at the orphanage, the smaller moments of Jayber's early life quietly shaped the man he would become. After drifting through Lexington and sinking into loneliness, Jayber finds his footing in Port William through vivid community experiences like the legendary Grandstand moonshine party and a heartfelt confession to Sam Hanks. His years as gravedigger and church steward deepen his bonds with the town, while a companionable friendship with Clydie fills his solitary bachelor years. The deaths of beloved Port William sons in World War II, combined with tender moments like helping Mattie run Bible school, draw Jayber further into the emotional heart of the community. At the river camp in his final years, he and Burley build a boat and fish together, savoring the friendship that had anchored Jayber's entire adult life.

The secondary scenes and relationships that shaped Jayber's world.

J. prays for confirmation of his call to preach but receives only silence, leaving him unable to trust the calling.

J. packs all his belongings in a cardboard box and leaves Pigeonville College on foot, heading toward Lexington.

A farmer named Sam Hanks gives J. a ride toward Lexington and secretly slips a five-dollar bill into his hand.

Jayber talks his way past a policeman blocking the flooded St. Clair Street Bridge by claiming he is going home to family.

Jayber spends a night sheltering with flood refugees and has a sudden vision of himself as part of the created world.

Mattie Keith accidentally leaves her books at the barbershop, and Jayber reads the love messages Troy has written inside.

Jayber watches Troy perform a spectacular basketball dunk purely to impress Mattie and feels hatred for Troy for the first time.

Jayber registers for the World War II draft but is turned away after a doctor discovers he has a heart murmur.

After a year of painful longing, Jayber resolves to give up his obsession with Mattie, but his love only deepens further.

Jayber spots Mattie weeping alone over Liddie's freshly dug grave in the cemetery and goes to kneel beside her.

Athey and Della secretly consult lawyer Wheeler Catlett and keep the farm title out of Troy's name in their will.

After leaving the dance, Jayber walks twelve miles home in the dark, silently reciting marriage vows and pledging devotion to Mattie.

Jayber's faith is reborn as he returns to prayer and recognizes that love has quietly directed his entire life.

Mattie becomes terminally ill but keeps it secret; Jayber learns of her condition secondhand from barbershop customers.

After Troy destroys the Nest Egg, a grief-stricken Jayber collapses in the woods before rising to take a boat to see Mattie.

Jayber's spiritual journey begins in silence — a calling he cannot confirm through prayer and a faith he cannot reconcile with institutions. His departure from Pigeonville and a chance encounter with Sam Hanks set him wandering, but crossing the floodwaters and sheltering with strangers give him his first real sense of belonging to the created world. Back in Port William, a series of quiet revelations — Troy's love letters, a basketball dunk, a rejected draft notice — steadily redirect the course of Jayber's inner life. It is his vow to love Mattie faithfully that marks the most profound internal turning point, made in darkness on a twelve-mile walk home from a humiliating night at a dance. The final chapters bring two devastating revelations: Mattie's hidden illness and Troy's destruction of the Nest Egg, which shatters Jayber but ultimately compels him to seek Mattie one last time.