The narrator arrives by train at Medicine Bow, where the Virginian is waiting to escort him to Sunk Creek Ranch.

Trampas calls the Virginian a slur during a poker game; the Virginian lays his gun on the table and demands Trampas smile.

The narrator's clumsiness and ignorance on the ranch earns him the nickname 'tenderfoot' among the cowboys.

The Virginian rescues Molly Wood from a tipping stagecoach during a river crossing; she cannot stop thinking about the tall horseman.

After foiling a mutiny on the cattle train, the Virginian is offered and accepts the position of ranch foreman by Judge Henry.

Rancher Balaam savagely beats his horse Pedro on a mountain trail; the Virginian intervenes and gives Balaam a thorough thrashing.

Indians attack the group in the Bow Leg mountains; Balaam escapes, but the Virginian disappears and is left for dead.

While riding in the hills, Molly discovers the wounded Virginian unconscious at a creek and nurses him back to health at her cabin.

The Virginian tells Molly she must return to Vermont, believing he can never make her happy; Molly instead agrees to marry him.

Judge Henry orders the Virginian to lead a posse to hunt down the cattle rustlers who have been plaguing the region.

The Virginian's posse captures two rustlers, one of them his old friend Steve; duty compels the Virginian to oversee their hanging.

The Virginian and the narrator discover Shorty's murdered body at a campsite in the Tetons and realize Trampas is the killer who escaped.

Trampas, drunk and armed, bursts into a saloon the day before the wedding and orders the Virginian to leave town by sundown.

Molly threatens to leave the Virginian forever if he fights Trampas; heartbroken, he says goodbye and walks out to face the duel.

The Virginian kills Trampas in the street; Molly cries 'Oh, thank God!' and rushes into his arms, and they marry the next day.

The narrator travels west and meets the Virginian, a principled and capable cowboy who escorts him to Sunk Creek Ranch, where a dangerous rivalry with the cruel Trampas immediately takes root. The Virginian rescues the Eastern schoolteacher Molly Wood from a stagecoach accident, sparking her interest, while his authority on a cattle run earns him a promotion to ranch foreman. A violent encounter with the cruel rancher Balaam in the mountains leads to an Indian attack that leaves the Virginian critically wounded and missing. Molly discovers and nurses him back to health, and when he tries to send her away for her own sake, she instead agrees to marry him. Their happiness is threatened when Judge Henry sends the Virginian to capture cattle rustlers, including his old friend Steve, and Trampas escapes by murdering an innocent man. On the eve of the wedding, Trampas forces a duel; the Virginian prevails, Molly rushes into his arms, and they marry and build a prosperous life together.

The Virginian's rise from cowhand to frontier hero.

The Virginian wins a bet by tricking a gullible traveling salesman into abandoning his bed at the overcrowded Medicine Bow boarding house.

The Virginian and the narrator travel 263 miles by wagon to Sunk Creek Ranch, gradually warming to each other along the way.

Em'ly the hen rejects a prematurely hatched chick, wanders the ranch wailing in grief, climbs a tree, and falls dead; the Virginian buries her.

The narrator and the Virginian become genuine friends over a summer at the ranch; the narrator returns East and they exchange letters by mail.

Molly Wood boards a westbound train, leaves Vermont behind, and arrives in Wyoming territory to begin her teaching position at Bear Creek.

At the Swinton neighborhood party, the Virginian forces Trampas to retract an insult against Molly's reputation and scolds the assembled cowboys.

The narrator encounters the Virginian in Omaha, where the cowboy is escorting a trainload of cattle bound for Chicago.

A cowhand demands the train stop for whiskey; the Virginian calmly tells him to have his bottle and kicks him off the moving train.

A washed-out rail bridge strands the return train for days; the Virginian collects a sack of frogs from a nearby creek to feed stranded passengers.

The Virginian keeps the visiting Reverend Dr. MacBride awake all night with an elaborate performance of false spiritual anguish.

Molly visits her Vermont family and shows the Virginian's photograph to her great-aunt, who reluctantly concedes he looks worthy and gives her blessing.

Shorty, penniless after gambling losses, reluctantly sells his beloved horse Pedro to rancher Balaam for forty dollars, a blanket, and some spurs.

Children at Molly's school act out a lynching at recess; Molly stops them and learns for the first time about the real hangings.

Judge Henry visits Bear Creek and argues to Molly that frontier settlers must enforce justice themselves when formal law enforcement is absent.

The newlyweds visit Molly's relatives in Bennington, Vermont, whose cold initial disapproval slowly softens into admiration for the Virginian.

The story opens in the rough frontier town of Medicine Bow, where the Virginian's quick wit and easy charm reveal themselves before he escorts the narrator across hundreds of miles of Wyoming wilderness to the ranch. At Sunk Creek, the narrator befriends the cowboys and witnesses the rhythms of range life, while back East, the determined Molly Wood prepares to head west and take her post as schoolteacher. The Virginian courts Molly cautiously at neighborhood gatherings and on horseback, defending her honor and making his intentions clear through small acts of loyalty, while she weighs her heart against her family's expectations. A dramatic cattle run to Chicago tests the Virginian's authority over a rebellious crew, and smaller crises showcase his resourcefulness and calm leadership. Back at the ranch, a pompous visiting preacher becomes the target of one of the Virginian's most elaborate pranks, and Molly visits Vermont, where her great-aunt quietly approves of her unconventional choice. The story closes with the newlyweds facing Molly's skeptical relatives, whose resistance gives way to respect as the true quality of the Virginian becomes undeniable.

The moments behind the legend: cowboys, pranks, and the road to love.

The Virginian reads Molly Wood's letter about the Bear Creek teaching job aloud and is visibly and unusually moved by something in her words.

The Virginian rides to Molly's cabin and, undeterred by her rebuffs, tells her 'You're goin' to love me before we get through.'

The Virginian charms the furious parents of switched babies into forgiving him by personally confessing and taking sole responsibility for the prank.

The Virginian begins borrowing books from Molly's collection and discussing them with her, determined to educate himself and become worthy of her.

The Virginian declares his love to Molly on a horseback ride; she insists on friendship only but admits their rides are her greatest pleasure.

The Virginian spins a tall tale about California frog ranches for stranded train passengers, publicly exposing Trampas as a gullible fool.

On the trail back to the ranch, the Virginian confronts Trampas and forces him to return a rope he had secretly stolen.

The Virginian sends Molly a letter containing a pressed flower he claims to have kissed; she presses the same flower to her own lips.

Molly packs her belongings to leave Bear Creek for Vermont permanently, keeping only her portrait of Grandmother Stark on the cabin wall.

While nursing the feverish Virginian, Molly listens to his delirious ramblings and realizes he possesses genuine, unstained goodness of character.

The Virginian finds the David Copperfield book lying where Molly dropped it and understands that his love scene with her was not a hallucination.

The Virginian and Molly write engagement letters to her family together; Lin McLean visits and says 'Everybody has knowed it right along.'

On the Teton mountain trail after the hanging, the narrator finds a scrap of newspaper from Steve's execution night lodged among the rocks.

At Shorty's murder scene in the Tetons, the Virginian finds Steve's farewell message on newspaper scraps, revealing his old friend's final respect for him.

Molly's great-aunt welcomes the Virginian warmly as 'nephew' in Dunbarton and concludes after long conversation that he makes an excellent match for Molly.

From the moment the Virginian reads Molly's letter and is inexplicably moved, the novel traces the inner arc of a courtship built on wit, stubbornness, and quiet admiration growing steadily toward commitment. The Virginian's determination to educate himself, his unguarded confession of love, and his small romantic gestures slowly erode Molly's resistance, even as her pride and family loyalty keep him at arm's length. A series of confrontations with Trampas tests the Virginian's patience and ingenuity on the trail and aboard the cattle train, while Molly's plan to flee Bear Creek permanently is overturned by a fateful ride that leads her straight to her wounded suitor. Nursing the Virginian back to health, Molly hears his feverish truths and glimpses the full depth of his character; a small, fallen book later confirms for the Virginian himself that their love is real. After the hanging of the rustlers, a scrap of newspaper and a dead man's farewell note in the Teton mountains force the Virginian to confront grief and find peace with the duty he has done. The story ends with the couple welcomed by Molly's great-aunt, who sees what others cannot: that their love is irreducible and wholly their own.