Summary
Chapter 1
The novel begins in the middle of the action: the main character is birthing a calf from a mother cow. The protagonist and first-person narrator, veterinarian James Herriot, had been called in the middle of the night to the Dinsdale's farm in the countryside, and it is snowing and windy outside.
Herriot is working to change the position of a calf while it is still inside the cow's womb. His entire arm is inside the cow’s womb, while he lies on the cold stone floor, shirtless and caked in blood and dirt. Herriot is beginning to lose hope because he has been working for hours unsuccessfully. He thinks of how birthing calves did not look this hard in his textbooks in school.
Meanwhile, ‘Uncle’, whose brother owns the farm, is extremely critical and is constantly giving Herriot advice on what he should be doing. Uncle seems to take pleasure in Herriot's struggle, especially because Herriot is a new vet who has just arrived in town. Herriot wants to prove Uncle wrong, and he feels he has done so when he is finally able to birth the calf, alive. Watching the mother and baby, Herriot pauses for a moment to appreciate the miracle of the baby animal. Herriot, feeling good about his work and about disproving Uncle, heads to his car. But, as Herriot is leaving, he hears Uncle call after him to give him one more piece of unsolicited advice.
Chapter 2
The chapter begins with Herriot on a bus, headed to interview as an assistant vet to Siegfried Farnon in Yorkshire county, England. He is not optimistic that he will get the job, as he is newly qualified and his economic prospects are dampened by the Great Depression. Herriot thinks of how many of the people he graduated with are currently unemployed.
As he travels in the bus, Herriot is struck by the beauty of the Dales. During the bus ride, Herriot imagines what Siegfried would be like, expecting him to be a merry, short, German man, because of his name.
Herriot arrives at Skeldale House, the home and office of Siegfried Farnon, and is first greeted by a stream of barking dogs. Next, he is greeted by Mrs. Hall, the housekeeper. Herriot is surprised to find out that Siegfried is not in at the moment, despite the fact that he had scheduled the appointment to interview him.
Herriot settles into the house as he waits for Siegfried to return. He answers the phone and the door, meeting clients with interesting accents, reporting issues such as “a cow wot wants borin’ out” and a dog who is “Womitin’ bad.” One person who comes to the door is not a client, but a very beautiful woman, Diana Brompton, who has been asked to tea by Siegfried. After an awkward period of waiting, she leaves after finding out Siegfried is not at home.
Herriot eventually goes outside to explore the property and falls asleep underneath a tree. When Herriot awakens, he finds Siegfried standing over him. Herriot is surprised to see that Siegfried is an Englishman. Siegfried offers to show him around the house.
Chapter 3
Siegfried shows Herriot the veterinary tools and medicines he keeps in his office. Siegfried has an impressive collection of pharmaceutical remedies in his “dispensary,” where he keeps pre-made medications and chemicals. In addition, he has a number of shiny tools hanging on the walls of one room where he stores the operating instruments, and he has an operating room for working with small animals.
The two go outside to get in an old car, so Siegfried can take Herriot on farm calls. Herriot notices Siegfried’s unconventional and dangerous driving. On the farm calls, Herriot demonstrates his skills and experience. First, they tend to a lame horse, which Herriot effectively treats, although he struggles under the weight of the horse. They then go to a cow that had difficulty producing milk. The cow kicks Herriot, and he is able to attend to it and relieve the issue. This marks the end of Herriot’s first day.
Chapter 4
After finishing up their rounds, Siegfried takes Herriot through a beautiful part of the countryside, and then to a local pub, mostly filled with farmers. There, Siegfried tells Herriot all about the practice and offers Herriot wages and board, much to Herriot’s surprise and delight. As the night goes on, Herriot gets cornered by a drunken older man who wants to tell him his secret cure for horse ailments. After some time at the pub, Herriot and Siegfried return to Skeldale House, where Herriot will now live.
Chapter 5
While Siegfried is out visiting his mother, Herriot goes on his first farm call by himself, to treat colic in a prized racehorse. Herriot is nervous because colic can be a tricky ailment to treat. Mr. Soames, the farm manager, is extremely rude to Herriot because he believes he is inexperienced. After Herriot examines the horse, he realizes it is so ill that it needs to be humanely killed. Soames does not agree with Herriot’s diagnosis, and is against killing the horse because it is very valuable. However, Harriot points out that the horse is suffering, and insists on putting it out of its misery, which he does by shooting it in the head, immediately killing it. Soames interprets this as a sign of Herriot’s incompetence, and complains to Siegfried.
Back at home, Siegfried comes home in the middle of the night, wearing a suit and seeming to have come from a party, rather than from a visit with his mother. Herriot recounts the tale; Siegfried tells Herriot that Soames is a very difficult character, but that Siegfried will back Herriot up. Siegfried and Herriot have a glass of whiskey to celebrate his first case.
Chapter 6
Siegfried performs an autopsy on the horse that Herriot put down and confirms that Herriot was correct in his diagnosis.
Herriot is sent to the train station pick up Tristan Farnon, Siegfried’s brother. Tristan is currently in veterinary school and has come to his brother's to stay after exams have finished. When Herriot sees Tristan and Siegfried together, Herriot witnesses how they both change around each other. Siegfried becomes more serious, unlike his usual joking nature. Tristan becomes nervous, and the room gets tense. Tristan admits to Siegfried that he has failed two of his exams; Siegfried is furious, and tells Tristan to leave the house. Herriot is shocked that Siegfried has kicked out his brother, but Tristan tells him that he is used to his brothers’ temper and is not concerned: Siegfried will “forget” it by morning.
Chapter 7
It has been three weeks since Tristan’s arrival at Skeldale House, and the practice sets into its regular routine. Tristan is responsible for early morning calls but is too lazy to answer the phone, which causes more tension and fighting between the brothers. Herriot often has to answer instead.
Herriot has fallen into a pattern in his work. He especially appreciates the garden passageway outside of Siegfried's house, through which he has to walk to get to the car. Herriot sometimes encounters Boardman, the caretaker, in the garden. Boardman likes to tell Herriot stories of the glorious days of the previous veterinarian who lived there.
Herriot has been received with caution by the farmers of the Dales. They often greet him disappointedly; they had been hoping Siegfried would come. However, Herriot notes that they usually warm to him and offer him food or eggs or milk to take home.
After finishing a job one day, Herriot appreciates the beautiful country scenery. He imagines how his life would be if he were in an office instead of the country. Yet, as he views the scenery, he thinks to himself that he is "not complaining": his current situation is very nice.
Chapter 8
This chapter reveals some of the more difficult aspects of Siegfried's character, which makes him hard to work with at times and very inconsistent in his moods.
Siegfried has a few vices. For instance, he is a ladies man. Siegfried seems to date many beautiful upper-class women, including Diana Brompton, the woman Herriot had met on his first day. However, Siegfried does not seem to be choosing any one woman to marry. Herriot also notes that Siegfried stores money in a large jar, and grabs handfuls of it when he needs it. Siegfried sometimes disappears as well. Later, Herriot realizes that Siegfried gambles.
Siegfried often gives Herriot contradicting directions, or blames Herriot for things that are not his fault. Siegfried’s contradictions are a source of both amusement and frustration for Herriot. For example, Siegfried advises Herriot that some less urgent calls from farmers can wait until morning. Later on, a farmer calls with an issue; Herriot tells the farmer the issue can wait until morning. However, when Siegfried finds out, he gets mad at Herriot and tells him that the cardinal rule is "You must attend." Another example of this is when Siegfried drives to the wrong farm, and won’t listen when Herriot tries to protest. Once the mistake has been realized, Siegfried scolds Herriot for allowing such a mistake to occur.
Chapter 9
Siegfried's brother Tristan stays around even after the college break should have been over. He is given the tasks of doing small things around the house, but Herriot notes that Tristan almost never does anything. Tristan also often prank calls Herriot, pretending to be a farmer with a difficult case. Herriot tries to get Tristan back a few times, but Tristan never falls for it.
One day Herriot is called to do a very difficult procedure, so he brings along Tristan. They need to put an expelled uterus back inside a cow. The two of them work hard at this job, which is messy, and after hours they finally succeed.
When the two of them get home, Herriot asks Tristan to cover the calls the rest of the day. When Herriot leaves, he prank-calls Tristan and pretends to be the same farmer, reporting that the same cow has expelled her uterus again. Tristan falls for it, and Herriot laughs.
Chapter 10
As Herriot settles into life in Darrowby, the locals and farmers become more accepting of him when they realize how competent he is. Herriot also admires the townspeople and their strong sense of friendship.
One day, Herriot tends to a farm that is a little further outside of the town, in the hills. After Herriot tends to their cow, the family there asks Herriot if he can give them a ride in his car to the show at the church, a performance of The Messiah. He agrees and sits down to wait for the family to eat their lunch, which they eat very slowly. Herriot is concerned he won’t have time to go home to eat lunch before the performance. In the end, he drops the family off at the performance, rushes home to eat his own lunch, and returns to the performance and enters late, thus eliciting disapproving looks.
Analysis
From the very beginning, the novel explores Herriot’s challenges in transitioning from city vet to country vet. Herriot begins the novel birthing a calf, and the birth is not an easy one, symbolic of Herriot’s beginnings as a vet. The first line indicates how Herriot encounters numerous situations he was unprepared for, as he trained more through books than through experience—“They didn’t say anything about this in the books, I thought, as the snow blew in through the gaping doorway and settled on my naked back.” This line also illustrates the harshness of winter in Darrowby. This difficult, unpleasant situation is further evident in vivid descriptions, such as “I lay face down on the cobbled floor in a pool of nameless muck … the snow mingled with the dirt and the dried blood on my body.” Herriot recalls a picture he had seen in his studies which couldn’t be further from the truth. The image presented calving as idyllic and simple – “He was relaxed and smiling, the farmer and his helpers were smiling, even the cow was smiling. There was no dirt or blood or sweat anywhere” (1). This deliberately contrasts with the difficult situation Herriot is in to emphasize his lack of on-the-job knowledge.
Herriot’s skills and abilities are questioned by the farmers when he begins. Many farmers express a belief that he is too inexperienced to know what he is doing. It is common for farmers to make ridiculous suggestions, such as the local farmer in Chapter 4 who believes that “marshmallow ointment” can treat any infection in horses. Herriot experiences one of his worst challenges on his first visit alone, without Siegfried, when Herriot faces the very difficult decision of having to put a horse down, to relieve it from its suffering; the horse’s caretaker, however, doubts Herriot’s opinion. By Chapter 10, however, the farmers and other clients of the veterinary practice begin to accept Herriot, as they realize he is very good at his job. He becomes well adapted to the demands of the country vet as he slowly gets used to early morning farm calls and difficult winter conditions.
The theme of the natural world is demonstrated through Herriot’s views of the landscape, providing a contrast of city life (represented by Herriot) with country life (life in Darrowby). At first, Herriot is overwhelmed by the countryside, especially the harshness of winter. He recognizes the formidable power of the natural world and yet, he also appreciates its beauty: “The formless heights were resolving into high, grassy hills and wide valleys. In the valley bottoms, rivers twisted among the trees” (8-9). He recognizes the beauty right away, and it does not take long for Herriot to begin to adapt to this new environment. Though the change in location is originally daunting, Herriot develops a great admiration for the Yorkshire Dales. Herriot comes to appreciate tranquil and laid-back country life as a better alternative than hectic urban life.
The characterization of Siegfried and Tristan, and the subplot of the conflict between them, is also presented in these initial chapters. Tristan and Siegfried Farnon are each other's foil: they highlight each other’s differences, and those differences are what cause conflict. While Siegfried is determined and hardworking, Tristan is lazy and mischievous. However, the two get along despite their differences, although they often argue and have comic conflicts.
Comedy is an important tool that the author employs throughout the text. Often, comedy is used to highlight the difficulty of human relationships. It is through these relationships with other people that Herriot grows as a person and as a professional. This humor is especially clear in Siegfried’s contradictions: Herriot takes situations that are rightfully very frustrating, such as a getting contrary directions from his boss, and makes them comical.
Likewise, as Herriot tries to navigate his relationships with the farmers, he finds humor in country life. Herriot is especially aware of the slow pace of country life. In Chapter 10, Herriot humorously recounts the gratingly slow pace at which a family eats their lunch, savoring every portion and eating incredible amounts, while Herriot sits impatiently. Herriot is in a hurry because he does not want to be late for a performance, but the family takes their time getting ready. In the end, the most comical part is that, when Herriot arrives late at the performance, he gets disapproving looks from that very same family. Herriot presents these situations in a light and cheerful way, indicating that he places value more on his relationships with people, and his appreciation for their ways of living, than on his own need to look good in front of others.
