The story is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town, New York, in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a lanky schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" 面包车, 范 Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina 面包车, 范 Tassel, only daughter of a wealthy farmer. As 起重机 leaves a party at the 面包车, 范 Tassel 首页 on an autumn night, he is pursued 由 the Headless Horseman, supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who 迷失 his head to a cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head." 起重机 disappears from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related."