The protagonist of the novel is seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield. Directly addressing the reader, Holden lets us know that he is currently in a mental hospital or sanitarium somewhere in Southern California. He explains that he wants to tell us of the events which took place the previous December over two days. At this point he digresses, something he is prone to, and tells us about his older brother, D.B. He tells us his brother was once a terrific short-story writer before he sold out and started writing scripts in Hollywood. The remainder of the novel unfolds as a series of memories from the narrator.
Holden attended Pencey Prep School. This is an exclusive private school in Pennsylvania. One afternoon at a football game between Pencey and their traditional rival, Saxon Hall, Holden tells us that he missed the game. He was the manager of the fencing team but somehow lost the team’s equipment on the subway that same morning which resulted in the cancellation of a match in New York. At this point, Holden is on his way to the home of his history teacher, Mr. Spencer. Holden wants to say goodbye since he has been expelled from school and will not return after the Christmas break.
Spencer, we find, is a well-intentioned but tiresome old man. After Spencer scolds Holden for being expelled, Holden leaves and takes refuge in the largely abandoned dorm back at school. Holden puts on his red hunting cap and begins to read. Soon he is disturbed by his neighbor, Ackley. Holden then gets into an argument with his roommate, Stradlater, over a theme Holden wrote for him on the subject of Holden’s dead brother Allie’s baseball glove. Stradlater, it turns out, is also dating Holden’s ex-girlfriend Jane Gallagher. Having had enough of Pencey Prep, Holden takes a train to New York with the plan to stay in a hotel until Wednesday when his parents expect him to come home.
On the train to New York Holden runs into the mother of one of his classmates at Pencey. The classmate is widely disliked and referred to as a rat, but for some reason Holden lies to the woman and tells her how popular her son is at school. Holden’s hotel room in New York looks out on another wing of the hotel and he watches the “perverts” from his window. Holden has his own struggles with his sexuality. At the hotel he meets three women in their thirties who are visiting from Seattle.
Holden has a good time dancing with them in the hotel lounge, but the women end up stiffing him and leaving him with the check. Holden then goes to Ernie’s Nightclub which proves to be a disappointment. Later, in Greenwich Village, Holden decides to take a prostitute back to his room, but he backs out and pays her to leave. He is shocked as the prostitute’s pimp comes to his room and beats him up for more money. Holden is all but defeated as Sunday morning nearly dawns.
Holden gets a short rest and telephones Sally Hayes, a girl he has known previously, to go to a play later that afternoon. Holden leaves the hotel and checks his bags at Grand Central Station. Over a light breakfast, Holden meets two nuns, one of whom is an English teacher. He has a discussion with her about Romeo and Juliet. Holden later goes shopping for a record for his sister, Phoebe, called “Little Shirley Beans.” Holden spots a young boy singing the lines “If a body catch a body coming through the rye.” This manages to cheer him up a little.
Holden meets with Sally. He tells us that he finds her snobbish and phony, but they attend the play together. The play features the stars Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne who are actually married. Holden and Sally go skating at Radio City, but as Holden tries to talk to her about things that really matter to him, and he suggests that they run away together, the two have a fight.
Holden takes off from this exchange and goes to the Christmas show at Radio City Music Hall. After this, he goes to see a movie and ends up getting drunk. He wants to go check on the ducks in Central Park, but in the process he breaks his sister’s record. At this point, Holden is physically and mentally exhausted and heads home to see his sister.
Holden tells us that he and his sister Phoebe are close friends as well as siblings. He tells her that one thing he would love to be is the “catcher in the rye,” the person who stands near the edge of the cliff by the field of rye to catch any of the children who wander too close to the edge. Later, Holden and Phoebe’s parents come home. Holden sneaks out undetected and visits the home of one of his teachers, Mr. Antolini, with the hope of staying with him for a few days. This is one of Holden’s favorite teachers. Holden is wakened in the early morning before dawn by Mr. Antolini patting him on the head. He leaves as soon as he can.
On Monday morning, Holden makes arrangements to meet Phoebe for lunch. Holden tells her that he needs to say goodbye. He intends to leave for the west to live out his life as a deaf-mute. Phoebe insists on going with him until Holden relents and agrees to stay. The story ends Holden watches Phoebe ride a carousel in the rain.
The last chapter of the novel finds Holden in a sanitarium somewhere in California. He explains that he does not want to tell us anything more. He says he misses everyone.