In Starkfield, Massachusetts, Reverend Smith arrives from Boston to take up his new post as the local clergyman. Ned Hale, the church sexton, escorts Smith into town, and on the way, they spot Ethan Frome, a crippled man, lumbering through the snow. Though Smith wants to offer Ethan a ride, Hale insists that Ethan would never accept. Later, despite the townspeople’s belief that Ethan should be left alone, Smith visits Ethan’s farm and hires him to be his driver. On the men’s first errand, however, their horse-drawn sled tips over in a snowstorm, and they are forced to walk back to Ethan’s house, where Smith stays the night. When Ned’s wife, Mrs. Ruth Hale, learns of Smith’s efforts to engage with Ethan, she tells him that it is presumptuous to assume Ethan wants his charity. Ruth informs Smith that Ethan has a wife named Zeena, whom Ethan failed to mention the night Smith stayed over. She suggests that they visit the Fromes, and on the way there, explains their tragic history. Several years in the past, after Ethan attends his mother’s funeral, he explains to funeral guests that before his mother became ill he was studying engineering at college, and he now plans to sell their farm and move west. Meanwhile, Zeena, Ethan’s distant cousin who has been serving as his mother’s nurse, intends to return to her family. However, Ethan finds comfort in Zeena’s presence, and she enjoys feeling needed by him, so they marry and remain on the farm. Sometime later, Zeena becomes sickly, and agrees to let Mattie Silver, a destitute young relative, live with them and help around the house. Though Mattie is frail when she arrives, she blossoms into a glowing young woman over the course of a year. One night, Ethan arrives to walk Mattie home from a dance and pauses at the window to stare at her. Denis Eady, the son of a local storekeeper, pursues Mattie at the dance and offers to drive her home, but Mattie opts to walk with Ethan. As they stroll through the snow, she and Ethan gaze at constellations, and Ethan promises to take her coasting on the hill where the townspeople sled. When they return home late, Zeena seems agitated and claims that her health has worsened. When Zeena takes an overnight trip to see a new doctor in Bedford, Massachusetts, Ethan employs Jotham, the farmhand, to drive his wife to the train station, claiming that he must deliver lumber in town and lying that he will receive a hefty advance payment for the job. That night, Mattie cooks an elaborate dinner for Ethan and sets out nice dishes. During the meal, the cat leaps onto the table and knocks over a pickle dish, smashing it to pieces. Knowing Zeena will be angry, Mattie cries, but Ethan promises that they will glue it together the next day. After dinner, Ethan stares longingly at Mattie and kneels by her side. Though they part ways to retire to bed, Ethan follows Mattie into her room and they kiss. The next day, Mattie and Ethan happily drive together to buy glue for the pickle dish, but their carefree behavior draws negative attention from the locals. As they return home, Jotham looks on suspiciously, but fails to warn them that Zeena has returned. Inside, Mattie and Ethan chat with each other in the kitchen, and Jotham finally appears to inform Ethan that Zeena is there. Ethan skulks into Zeena’s bedroom, where she announces that she needs an operation and has hired a new girl to take care of her with plans to send Mattie home. Ethan is devastated by the news, and the tension grows when Zeena discovers the broken pickle dish. On Mattie’s last night at the house, Ethan sneaks into her bedroom and they make love while Zeena lies awake in bed. The next morning, Ethan finds Mattie attempting to commit suicide in the barn. He stops her, and later insists that he drive Mattie to the train station instead of Jotham. On their somber, final drive together, Ethan stops the horse at an overlook and proposes that he and Mattie run away together, insisting that he can save the fifty dollars necessary to make it happen, but Mattie says little in response. Once in town, Ethan drives Mattie to the store instead of the train station, intent on buying her a gift. Aware that the people inside the shop disapprove, Mattie becomes uncomfortable, but Ethan insists on buying a comb for her hair. Outside, Ethan reminds Mattie of his promise to take her coasting, and she cheers up. At the steep sledding hill, they take two runs, and climb back for a third. Ethan asks Mattie to sit behind him so that he can feel her embrace. Moments after Mattie pushes off, they crash into a tree. At the site of the accident years later, Ruth tells Smith that she took care of Mattie after the accident and states that she never heard another person moan in pain the way Mattie did. Smith and Ruth arrive at the Frome residence, where Ethan greets them and agrees to introduce Smith to his wife. Inside a bedroom, Smith spots a frail woman in a bed by the window and assumes it is Zeena; however, Ethan points to Zeena in another corner, and Smith realizes that the disfigured woman in bed is Mattie. Ironically, Zeena has become Mattie’s caretaker. After a brief visit, Ethan watches as Smith and Ruth walk away.