The narrator stops at the Tabard Inn in London and meets twenty-nine fellow pilgrims all preparing to travel to Canterbury.

The Tabard's Host proposes a storytelling competition, promising a free dinner to whoever tells the best tale on the journey.

The pilgrims draw lots to decide who tells the first story, and the Knight wins the draw.

The Knight tells of Palamon and Arcite, two captive cousins who both fall in love with Emily through their prison window.

The drunken Miller barges in to tell his own tale, ignoring the Host's invitation for the Monk to speak next.

The Miller tells the bawdy tale of a student and a carpenter's young wife who scheme together to commit adultery.

The Reeve, insulted by the Miller's tale mocking a foolish old carpenter, retaliates with his own story about a cheating miller.

The Man of Law tells the tale of Constance, a pious Roman woman who survives betrayal and two sea exiles through steadfast faith.

The Prioress tells the tale of a devout young boy whose slit throat does not prevent his corpse from singing a hymn.

The Host mocks Chaucer's girth and manner, then invites him to speak; Chaucer launches into the silly romance of Sir Topas.

The Host abruptly cuts off Chaucer's tale of Sir Topas, calls it worthless, and demands a story with some moral value.

The Pardoner brags openly about selling fake relics and pardons, then tells a tale of three greedy men who kill each other.

The Wife of Bath delivers a long prologue defending her five marriages and explaining how she dominated each of her husbands.

The Clerk tells the tale of patient Griselda, a poor woman who endures her nobleman husband's cruel tests without complaint.

The Parson refuses to tell any fable and instead closes the journey with a sermon on sin, penance, and God's mercy.

The Canterbury Tales opens at the Tabard Inn in London, where a narrator meets twenty-nine fellow pilgrims and the jovial Host proposes a storytelling competition to fill the road to Canterbury. The Knight, drawn first by lot, sets a chivalrous tone with his romance of two cousins in love with the same woman, but the drunken Miller immediately shatters that elegance with a bawdy tale of adultery and trickery. Later tellers range from the Man of Law, whose pious Constance survives every catastrophe through faith, to the Prioress, whose tale lingers over a murdered boy whose corpse will not stop singing. Chaucer himself is ridiculed when he attempts the absurd romance of Sir Topas and is silenced by his own creation, the Host. The Pardoner's chilling tale of three men destroyed by their own greed and the Wife of Bath's fierce autobiographical defense of female sovereignty mark the journey's middle passages. At last, the Parson refuses to tell any fiction at all and closes the pilgrimage with a sermon on sin, penitence, and God's enduring mercy.

The pilgrimage frame and the tales that define it.

Arcite wins the tournament for Emily's hand but is thrown from his horse and dies, urging Emily to marry Palamon.

Nicholas convinces the gullible carpenter a great flood is coming, tricking him into hanging three separate tubs from the rafters.

Absalon goes to kiss Alison at her window, kisses her backside instead, then returns to brand Nicholas with a red-hot coulter.

The Cook enthusiastically begins a tale about a reckless apprentice named Peterkin who loves gambling and drink, but the tale is left unfinished.

The Shipman tells of a monk who borrows money from a merchant and uses it to pay the merchant's wife for sex.

Chaucer tells the prose tale of Dame Prudence, whose patient counsel persuades her husband Melibee to forgive his enemies rather than take revenge.

The Monk recites an unbroken catalogue of fallen great men until the Knight interrupts to demand a more uplifting story.

The Nun's Priest tells the comic tale of Chanticleer the rooster, who ignores a prophetic dream and is nearly eaten by a fox.

The Physician tells the tale of Virginia, whose father beheads her to protect her virtue from a corrupt judge's scheme.

The Friar tells a tale in which a greedy summoner befriends a demon and is dragged off to Hell for refusing to repent.

The Summoner retaliates with a tale of a hypocritical friar who reaches under a sick man's buttocks and receives a fart.

Walter reveals to Griselda that her years of suffering were a test and reunites her with the children she thought were dead.

The Merchant tells a bitter tale of old blind January, whose young wife May secretly commits adultery with a squire in a pear tree.

The Second Nun tells the life of St. Cecilia, who survives burning and three executioner's axe blows before dying as a martyr.

Chaucer ends the Tales with a retraction, asking forgiveness for all his worldly writings and renouncing these Canterbury Tales by name.

While the main plot traces the pilgrimage's frame, this pool digs into the individual stories and the specific moments that define each teller. The Knight's tale ends in tragedy when Arcite wins the tournament but dies from a fall, and the Miller's tale descends into gleeful chaos involving a fake flood, a backside kiss, and a red-hot iron. Later pilgrims range from the worldly Shipman to the scholarly Clerk, whose tale of patient Griselda reaches a surprising resolution when her husband finally admits his cruelty was a test all along. The feuding Friar and Summoner trade vicious tales about each other's professions, while the Merchant bitterly depicts a young wife's adultery played out in a garden. The sequence closes with the Second Nun's lyrical account of St. Cecilia's martyrdom and Chaucer's own shamefaced retraction of everything he has written.

The tales behind the tales — what each pilgrim really said.

Theseus discovers Palamon and Arcite fighting in the forest and nearly executes them, but spares both after Hippolyta and Emily beg for mercy.

Saturn steps in to resolve the dispute between Venus and Mars, promising that both gods will see their petitions granted.

In the Reeve's Tale, the clerk John secretly moves the baby's cradle so Simpkin's wife stumbles into the wrong bed in the dark.

A spectral hand appears and strikes dead the knight who swore falsely against Constance, and the astonished King Alla converts to Christianity.

Alla returns from campaign, discovers his mother Donegild forged his letters to banish Constance and their infant son, and executes her.

Alla travels to Rome seeking penance, recognizes his son Maurice, and through the boy is finally reunited with the long-lost Constance.

In the Pardoner's Tale, the three men discover a pile of golden coins under a tree and immediately begin plotting to betray each other.

The Wife of Bath reveals how her fifth husband Johnny surrendered mastery to her after knocking her unconscious in a fistfight.

In the Wife of Bath's Tale, the old hag demands the guilty knight's hand in marriage as her price for answering the queen's riddle.

The hag transforms into a beautiful and virtuous woman after the knight surrenders to her the choice of how she should be.

Pluto suddenly restores January's sight just as his wife May commits adultery with a squire hidden in the branches above him.

Dorigen confesses her impossible promise to Aurelius to her husband Arveragus, who calmly tells her she must go and keep her word.

Aurelius releases Dorigen from her promise after seeing her misery, and the magician in turn frees Aurelius from his debt.

The canon grows uneasy as his yeoman begins revealing his secrets to the pilgrims and abruptly flees the company.

The Manciple tells the tale of Phoebus's white crow, which is cursed and turned black for truthfully reporting its master's betrayal.

This pool focuses on the decisions, discoveries, and reversals that turn the course of individual tales and the pilgrimage itself. From Saturn's divine intervention settling a heavenly quarrel, to Theseus's merciful judgment in the forest, these events shift destinies rather than merely describe them. King Alla's story encompasses a miraculous courtroom execution, a mother's forgery uncovered, and a long-deferred reunion in Rome. The Wife of Bath's frank account of winning mastery through a fistfight leads directly into her tale's climactic transformation scene, while the Merchant's tale pivots sharply when Pluto restores a blind man's sight at the worst possible moment. The Franklin's tale turns on Dorigen's anguished confession and an unexpected chain of generosity that cascades from husband to suitor to magician. The pool closes with the canon's hasty flight from the company and the Manciple's cautionary fable about what happens to those who tell inconvenient truths.