The narrator begins the story by saying that years ago he was out west searching for in hope of being rich. He describes how beautiful the land and region is and also how it once was filled with lots of , but now has been deserted because there was no more gold to be found. It now was a lonesome place where all that could be heard was the hum of the .
One afternoon the narrator runs into a man about years old who invites him into his , which was the custom of the country. The little cottage was decorated beautifully with carpets, wallpaper, books, and vases. The owner of the house, whose name is Henry, tells the stranger that his decorated the house herself. He shows the narrator a of his lovely wife on her last birthday when she was , and tells him that she went to go see her people who live forty or miles away. Henry also tells the narrator that he expects his wife to return home on , and asks him to stay around until she returns so that she isn’t disappointed because she likes it when people stop by and visit.
As the day of her return approaches, a of Henry’s stops by and asks him to read a written by Henry’s young wife. His friend, named , begins to cry as the letter is read aloud. On , another friend stops by the house whose name is Joe, and he tells Henry that the boys wanted to throw her a welcome home . also asks to hear the letter from the missing woman of the house. Finally on Saturday, a third friend arrives at the house named , and he also asks Henry to read the letter.
The men decorated the house with , and they began playing their fiddles while they waited for the young lady to return. At the same time the men were drinking heavily to the and safety of Henry’s wife. Eventually Joe brings glasses out on a for one last drink, and tells the narrator not to drink from one particular glass which was meant for . Henry drinks his last drink and quickly falls on the sofa because his friends drugged him to sleep. Henry’s three friends begin to leave, and the narrator asks them to stay because he didn’t want to be alone when the young lady of the house returned from her . This is when it is revealed that Henry’s wife has been dead for nineteen , and that Henry has lost his mind. So each year his friends pretend that she is returning so that Henry can continue to survive by himself.