Outlander, published by Random House in 1991, is the first in a highly successful romantic novel series written by Diana Gabaldon, a #1 New York Times bestselling author. The series was adapted into a historical drama television series in 2014.

Other works by this author include Go Tell the Bees That I Am Gone, Dragonfly in Amber, and An Echo in the Bone.

Plot Summary

Told from the perspective of 27-year-old Englishwoman Claire Beauchamp, Outlander begins in 1945 in Inverness, Scotland. Former WWII nurse Claire Beauchamp and her historian husband Frank Randall have returned to Scotland to reconnect after several years of separation due to the war. The couple is trying for a child.

While Claire studies botany in the Scottish Highlands, Frank researches his Scottish ancestors, namely a soldier called Captain Jonathan Randall. On a botany tour, Claire stumbles upon an ancient henge. After seeing a Scottish ritual performed there, Claire returns to the site to study a plant. Upon finding the plant, she hears a strange wail coming from the stones. After touching the stones, Claire is transported back in time to the year 1743, where she finds herself face-to-face with Frank’s ancestor Jonathan “Black Jack” Randall, who is a more sinister character than the historical records let on.

Randall accuses Claire of being a prostitute and tries to sexually accost her. However, Randall is intercepted by a group of Scottish clansmen, who then kidnap Claire. Claire intervenes in a failed attempt to put the arm back in the socket of one of the clansmen, a man named Jamie. Seeing Claire’s value as a healer, the clansmen take Claire with them to the castle of Scottish laird, or landowner, Colum MacKenzie, of the prominent Scottish MacKenzie clan. Though the other men are rough with her, Claire notices that Jamie is kind and chivalrous.

At dinner the first night at Colum’s castle, Claire notes that Colum’s son Hamish looks more like Colum’s brother Dougal than Colum. Colum appoints Claire as the castle doctor. Though Colum is hospitable to Claire, Claire is aware that Colum suspects her of being an English spy. She knows that she is being kept at the castle against her will. Claire and Jamie’s friendship blossoms as Claire visits him in the stables, under the guise of tending his wounds. At a public hearing, Jamie displays his sense of honor when he volunteers himself to take the corporal punishment of a young girl, Laoghaire.

Instead of identifying herself as a time traveler, Claire tells Colum that she had been on her way to visit relatives in France when she was attacked by Randall. Claire notices that Jamie’s tartan is brown and blue and not the MacKenzie green, signaling that he is from a different clan. After spending more time with Jamie, Claire realizes that Jamie is upper class and well educated, far from an outlaw. Jamie informs her that the English have a ransom out for him for murder and that he is wanted for killing a British soldier who invaded his home. However, Jamie claims that he did not kill the man they say he did. Jamie later also reveals that Randall had raped his sister Jenny. After Claire sees the deep scars on Jamie’s back, Jamie tells Claire of his escape from the English stronghold Fort William after being flogged twice by Randall. The next morning, Claire stumbles across Jamie kissing Laoghaire.

At Castle Leoch, Claire finds satisfaction in her new role as physician. Claire identifies Colum’s ailment as a degenerative disease of the bone and connective tissue called Toulouse-Lautrec syndrome. While listening to folk songs one night at dinner, Claire ascertains that many Scottish Highland stories use the time frame of 200 years, which is the time gap between the time she is in and the era she left. She vows to return to the stones at Craigh na Dun and therefore return to her husband Frank in 1945.

Claire makes friends with an herbalist named Geillis Duncan, who posits that Colum’s son Hamish is actually Jamie’s son. On a trip to the nearby village of Cranesmuir with Geillis and Dougal, Claire witnesses the public punishment of a 12-year-old boy for stealing. Claire and Jamie work to free the boy, strengthening their friendship.

All the residents of Castle Leoch attend The Gathering, an oath-taking in which the men of the MacKenzie clan make their oaths of allegiance to Colum. Claire uses the distractions of this event to escape; however, when she goes to the stable to steal a horse she is intercepted by Jamie. Jamie coolly informs her that Colum has hired guards to watch her, thwarting her plans for escape. Jamie has reasons to hide of his own: He does not want to swear allegiance to Colum and give up his family name. However, the pair are interrupted by three drunk MacKenzie men, who drag them off to the Gathering. When it is time for Jamie to come before Colum, instead of swearing his allegiance, he vows his friendship, allyship, and obedience, but does not take the MacKenzie name. Colum accepts. As Claire leaves the Gathering, she is accosted by a group of drunk MacKenzie men. Dougal saves her from their advances but not without taking a kiss from her for himself. The next week, Dougal announces that he will be taking Jamie and Claire with him to collect rent from tenants through the MacKenzie lands. He says he will take Claire to Fort William to contact her relatives in France. Claire speculates that she can find her way back to the stones of Craigh na Dun from there. On her trip with Dougal, Claire realizes that Dougal is using the façade of collecting MacKenzie rents to raise money for the Jacobite cause, a movement to overthrow the current king of Britain in favor of a monarch who would be more sympathetic to Scottish interests. Jamie grows morose and angry when Dougal uses the beating Jamie bore by Captain Randall as a strategy for fundraising.

At Fort William, Claire is interrogated and then beaten by Captain Randall, who cannot figure out whether Claire is a spy. In seeing Claire’s wounds, Dougal and Randall get into an argument and Dougal takes Claire back with him. Dougal tells Claire that so long as she is an Englishwoman Randall will have the right to capture and interrogate her. He believes that the only solution is for Claire to become a Scotswoman by marrying Jamie. At first Claire refuses, but then she sees an opportunity in using Jamie’s vast knowledge of the Scottish landscape to get back to Craigh na Dun. Before marrying, Jamie tells Claire that his family name is Fraser. The couple wed in the same church Claire marries Frank 200 years in the future.

On the night of their wedding, Jamie, a virgin, sheepishly tells Claire that their marriage is not legal until they consummate it. After hours of talking, the couple begin to engage in an intense sexual affair. Jamie confesses to having wanted Claire for some time and Claire admits that she had been fighting her attraction to Jamie. Jamie tells Claire that making love to her feels like giving her his soul. Jamie tells Claire that their marriage might have saved his life since if he had sworn his oath the Colum at the Gathering, and taken the MacKenzie name, Dougal and Colum might have killed him for his proximity to the MacKenzie inheritance. Jamie maintains that marrying an Englishwoman leaves him little chance of inheriting Castle Leoch.

Jamie and the rest of the MacKenzie clansman fight off an English raid. Jamie gives Claire a dirk, which she drops during the struggle. Claire and the MacKenzie men camp near Loch Ness, where Claire thinks she sees a monster. One of the MacKenzie men, Peter, sees her witness the beast and becomes afraid of Claire, thinking her a witch. Claire meets Jamie’s friend Hugh Munro, who has been collecting information for Jamie about an English deserter Horrocks’s whereabouts. Jamie believes that Horrocks can testify that Jamie did not kill an English officer.

Jamie and Claire are attacked by English deserters while making love one morning. When one of them forces himself on Claire, but Claire stabs and kills him with her hidden dirk. Jamie kills the other. After the attack, Claire and Jamie furiously make love.

A meeting with Horrocks is arranged. Not wanting to worry about him when Jamie is gone, Claire insists on going with Jamie to meet Horrocks, but he refuses, insisting that it is dangerous for her to be seen out in the open. It dawns on Claire that she had been so preoccupied with fighting with Jamie that she had failed to observe her location, mere miles from the hill of Craigh na Dun. Claire sets off in the direction of Craigh na Dun, but her foot slips, plunging her into the loch. She begins to drown. Claire is pulled up from the water by Corporal Hawkins, one of Captain Randall’s minions.

Corporal Hawkins takes Claire to Captain Randall, who grows angry at Claire during questioning and tries to sexually assault her. However, Claire realizes Randall cannot keep his penis erect enough to rape her without her screaming in distress. Claire resolves to stay quiet. Jamie unexpectedly arrives and tricks Randall into freeing Claire with an empty revolver. Upon returning to the group, Claire is given a frosty reception by the MacKenzie clansman, who are still angry with her for putting them in danger. When Claire and Jamie are alone in their chamber, Jamie tells her he must flog her as punishment.

While riding the next day, Jamie reveals to Claire more information about his relationship to Captain Randall and Jamie’s father’s death. Captain Randall had offered to cancel Jamie’s second flogging if Jamie agreed to have sex with Randall. Jamie thinks of his father and decides he could not be sodomized. Consequently, Randall almost beat Jamie to death. Believing Jamie to be dead, Jamie’s father suffers a fatal heart attack. Jamie feels responsible for his father’s death. Later, Jamie admits to wanting to penetrate Claire while beating her. Jamie asks Claire if she will share a bed with him again. He swears to never beat Claire again.

Jamie updates Claire on his meeting with Horrocks. Horrocks told Jamie it was Randall himself who had killed the English officer. Claire suggests the two of them go to abroad to escape. Jamie dreams of returning to his own family property of Lallybroch. Claire feels guilty that while Jamie includes her in his future plans, Claire still intends to escape back into the future. Jamie tells Claire that the Duke of Sandringham, for whom Randall works as a spy, will soon visit Castle Leoch.

Claire and the MacKenzie clan return to Castle Leoch. Jamie asks Dougal for his share of the MacKenzie rents, which he is entitled to as a married man. Jamie leaves he and Claire’s chamber to run an errand. Claire suspects Jamie of having an affair with Laoghaire. The couple fights when Jamie returns. Jamie finally produces a ring and explains that he used the rent money to buy Claire a wedding ring. Jamie admits to wanting Claire so much that he can hardly breathe. He asks her if she wants him too and she agrees that she does. Before making love to her, Jamie warns Claire that he cannot be gentle.

Claire and Jamie find a bushel of dried plants thrown in their bed, which Jamie claims is an ill-wish someone has sent them. While on a walk with Geillis in the foothills, Claire stumbles across an abandoned baby. Geillis instructs Claire to leave the baby, claiming it to be a changeling, or demon. Geillis grows angry at Claire when Claire insists on retrieving the child, calling her a “pig-headed English ass” (697). Jamie finds Claire and confirms that she should leave the child alone, as the child is ill beyond cure and allowing the parents to think that the child is a changeling and not their kin is a way to help them grieve. The duke arrives and Claire finds that she likes his sense of humor.

Claire goes to Geillis’s house, who has offered to help Claire find out who sent her the ill-wish. Once there, Claire finds that Geillis practices magic. Under the guise of helping Claire with the ill-wish, Geillis puts Claire into a trance and tries to extract information from her about her true identity. Geillis is interrupted by her husband Arthur, who barges in on Geillis in a state of undress and leaves the room looking disturbed. Later that night at the Castle Leoch banquet, Arthur drops dead seemingly from a heart attack.

Before Jamie leaves on a trip, Jamie asks Claire not to spend time with Geillis, claiming that she is a witch. Moping around the castle in the wake of Jamie’s departure, Claire runs into Laoghaire, who tells her that Geillis is unwell and has asked Claire to see her. Geillis is puzzled when Claire arrives at her house. Their conversation is interrupted by a loud rumbling sound.

Geillis and Claire are captured by the villagers, who force them to stand trial for witchcraft. Claire suspects that Colum knew about this and did not intervene. Geillis admits to poisoning her husband and carrying Dougal’s child. She claims to have made an alliance with Dougal, a powerful Scotsman, as a form of patriotism. Claire realizes that Geillis is a Jacobite. At the trials, the villagers strip Claire so that her breasts are bare and interrogate her. However, just as she is to be killed, Jamie arrives to save her, having been given word by Alec the stable master that she was in danger.

Jamie asks her if she is a witch. Claire tells Jamie the truth about her background. Jamie makes love to Claire tenderly before solemnly leading her to Craigh na Dun so that she can go home. Instead of telling Jamie she loves him, Claire warns Jamie of the upcoming Jacobite uprising, famine, and downfall of the Highlander clans who follow the uprising. Claire implores Jamie to seek refuge abroad. With hurt in his eyes, Jamie leaves Claire.

Sitting in front of the stones, Claire finds that she cannot leave Jamie and returns to the cottage to find him. She slips into bed beside him, much to his delight upon awakening. Jamie confesses to Claire that it took all his strength not to ask her to stay with him. Jamie tells Claire that they will now go back to his home, Lallybroch. Jamie and Claire arrive at Lallybroch. After a long and complicated misunderstanding between Jamie and his sister Jenny, Jamie discovers that Jenny was not impregnated by Captain Randall and is instead married with a son and a second child on the way to Jamie’s childhood friend Ian.

Jamie admits to Claire that one of the reasons he married her was because he wanted her. Claire laughingly clarifies that he married her for love, and he confirms. Claire challenges Jamie on the difference between love and desire. Jamie counters that he believes them to be very similar. He admits that he had not wanted to reveal that he loved her upon their wedding day because he knew that she was reluctant to marry him and did not want to burden her.

While inspecting the Lallybroch mill, Jamie must hide underwater from a pair of English soldiers. Having lost his swimming drawers, he is forced to re-emerge naked. Widow MacNab asks Jamie to take on her grandson Rabbie as a Lallybroch stable boy so that Rabbie may escape the cruel beatings of his father MacNab. Jamie agrees. Although MacNab initially refuses to give up Rabbie, he changes his mind after a private, clearly jarring conversation with Jamie, from which he comes back grey-faced and doubled-over. When Claire asks Jamie how he convinced MacNab to release the boy, Jamie admits to having physically coerced MacNab.

After dinner one evening, Jamie reminiscences about the humor and fairness of his father’s beatings. He grows morose after the storytelling, admitting his guilt over his father’s death. Jenny interjects that she believes it was her fault that their father died. She confesses that when Randall tried to rape her, she teased him for his inability to keep an erection. In retaliation, Randall knocked her unconscious and when she awoke Jamie had been captured. Jamie comforts her that neither of them were responsible for their father’s death.

On another evening, Jenny describes the erotic nature of pregnancy then walks off for some private time with Ian, leaving her son small Jamie sleeping by the fire with Claire and Jamie. Claire asks Jamie if it is true what Jenny claimed, that men penetrate women in order to get back to the prenatal womb. Jamie confirms that there is some pleasure in trying to go back to this comfort of the fetal state. He reaches for her, initiating sex, dismissing the presence of the boy by saying that he must learn his husband duties some way or another.

Claire realizes that Jamie was born to be master of Lallybroch. When Jamie asks Claire what she was born to do, Claire responds that she was born for Jamie. Claire tells Jamie that she is afraid that if she tells him she loves him she will be unable to stop. She tells him she loves him.

After a few days, Jamie tells Claire that there are English soldiers within 20 miles, and they must leave Lallybroch. However, their departure is postponed when Jenny goes into labor. Her delivery of her daughter Margaret is complicated, and Claire must turn the child inside Jenny’s womb. Ian fears that Jenny will die; however, mother and child both survive. Claire observes Jamie’s competency with his newborn niece. Jamie tells Claire she is glad she is barren because he could not stand seeing her in pain.

Outside of Lallybroch, Ian and Jamie are attacked by the English Watch and Jamie is kidnapped. Jenny and Claire depart in search of Jamie. They capture an English soldier, who tells them that Jamie is dead, but Jenny does not believe them. Murtagh finds Jenny and Claire, taking Jenny’s place in their hunt for Jamie since Jenny must return home and care for her child. Murtagh informs Jenny and Claire that it was widow MacNab that told the English about Jamie’s location.

After Murtagh and Claire befriend a band of gypsies, they get word from them as to Jamie’s whereabouts. However, to Claire’s dismay, it is Dougal the gypsies have found and not Jamie. Dougal informs Claire that Jamie is being held at the notoriously dangerous Wentworth Prison and is to be hanged in a matter of days. When Claire implores Dougal to help her set Jamie free, Dougal refuses to put himself and the MacKenzie men he rode with in danger. Murtagh arrives, having commandeered some of Dougal’s money and men. Dougal confesses to siring Hamish and to being infatuated with Claire. Claire bargains with Dougal to let her talk to his men, and if they leave of their own accord, he will have no objection. If she does not succeed, then she will give Dougal back his money and men. Dougal agrees. Five of Dougal’s men willingly help Claire save Jamie. Dougal passes on a cryptic message from Geillis to Claire that Claire interprets to mean that Geillis time traveled from 1967 to 1743 and that she believes in Claire and Jamie’s love.

After tricking Sir Fletcher Gordon, the Wentworth Prison overseer, to allow her on prison grounds, Claire finally finds Jamie being tortured by Captain Randall in the prison basement. Jamie’s hand is severely mangled. When Captain Randall threatens to kill Claire, Jamie offers him his body if Randall will lead Claire safely out of the prison. Captain Randall agrees. Claire tells Randall that she is a witch and that she knows the day of his death. Instead of leading Claire to safety, Randall pushes Claire into a ditch of dead bodies before she can reveal his death date.

Claire is attacked by a wolf and rescued by a nearby resident, Sir Marcus MacRannoch. After Murtagh arrives to collect Claire, he recognizes Sir Marcus as one of Ellen MacKenzie’s, Jamie’s mother, suitors, who gave her the string of pearls that Claire now owns. Murtagh concocts a plan to use Sir Marcus’s cattle as a distraction to free Jamie. Unleashing the cattle on Wentworth grounds, Sir Marcus then goes to Sir Gordon and demands to know why he is harboring stolen property on the lands. In the midst of this argument, the Murtagh and the MacKenzie men free Jamie. Randall is trampled to death by cattle.

Though Jamie’s body begins to heal, first at Sir Marcus’s house, then at his uncle’s abbey in France, his mind does not, and he is plagued with memories of his sexual torture by Randall. What pains Jamie most is that there were times during the torture that he was sexually aroused by Randall. Jamie feels as if Randall has stolen his soul. Jamie eventually concludes that he can no longer be Claire’s husband since her touch brings to mind the memory of Randall. He implores her to return to the year 1945. However, Claire refuses and uses witchcraft to call back Randall’s ghost from the dead so Jamie can fight him. The next day, Jamie’s fever breaks. Claire and Jamie make love for the first time since Jamie’s rape and torture.

Claire confesses her past to Anselm, a Franciscan monk who is a guest at the abbey. Anselm advises her to feel grateful for her successful marriage to Jamie and to use her insights into the future as a tool.

Jamie surprises Claire by taking her to the healing hot springs outside of the abbey. Claire decides that the two of them will seek refuge in Rome when they leave the abbey. The couple make love in the hot springs, and afterwards Claire tells Jamie that she is carrying his child.