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1-Page Summary of Pale Rider

Overall Summary

Miranda dreams of a familiar house, bed and stranger. She’s riding on horseback with the stranger through a war-torn country to escape Death and the Devil. When she wakes up, she realizes that this is 1914 in Europe, where World War I has started and there’s an influenza epidemic going around.

During wartime, Miranda is employed as a drama critic at the newspaper where she works. Two Lusk Committee members confront her about not buying a Liberty Bond to support the war effort. She refuses to buy one and is tempted to reject the war entirely.

The story jumps forward as Miranda is back at home, relaxing in the bathtub. She has a headache and remembers what happened earlier that day. Mary Townsend (Towney) and Miranda had been agonizing over what to do about not buying bonds, and she left work early to visit the wounded soldiers in the hospital—a task she dreads because it’s phony and forced.

The story then shifts back to the present, where Miranda is in her bathtub. She’s been thinking about Adam a lot lately and decides to fantasize about him before getting out of the tub. He moved into her building 10 days ago and they’ve seen each other almost every day since then. They went on their first date yesterday, which was great but she feels like something’s wrong with her body because she can’t stop coughing or sneezing.

Later, Miranda discusses the war with her work friends Towney and Chuck Rouncivale. They all have a lot to say, but none of them manage to share how they really feel about the war and their roles in it. After work, Miranda attends a show she must cover for the paper. An actor whom she gave a less than stellar review confronts her outside the theatre. She feels bad about this encounter, on top of which is an awful show that leaves her feeling uneasy as well as frustrated at having given such harsh reviews in general lately.

Later on, Miranda is waiting for Adam so they can spend the evening together. She starts to question her relationship with him because of how uncertain his role in the war is. They see a horrible show together and a man tries to sell bonds during it which makes Miranda upset. Later, they go dancing.

The next thing Miranda knew, she was sick and in bed. Adam came to her aid and took care of her. The couple sang together while Miranda drifted in and out of consciousness. They admitted their love for each other before Adam left to get ice cream and coffee for them both. He left, but when Miranda woke up, she found herself in a hospital with no sign of Adam anywhere around.

In the hospital, Miranda is slipping in and out of consciousness. She dreams about death, oblivion, and utopia. At first she’s afraid of dying because it means darkness for eternity. However, her dreamscape changes to a world where all the people who have died are alive again—a beautiful place that allows her to connect with everyone else on a different level than before.

Miranda recovers from her illness. She learns that World War I has ended and that she is on the road to recovery. People come to visit Miranda, bringing letters from friends who are overjoyed at her recovery. Everybody wants Miranda to be happy about being alive again, but she feels sad because of what she saw in a dream—a world of beauty and joy that is impossible in this real life with its death and misery.

Pale Horse, Pale Rider

In her dream, Miranda lies in a bed that she knows belongs to her. The house is familiar to her as well. She thinks: “Too many people have been born here and have wept too much here and laughed too much with each other.”