(SPOILER ALERT)

     The story start's with the indication that Holden is at a mental hospital in California. He is reflecting upon his past. He starts his story at his last night at Pencey Prep, a boarding school he was at. He has been kicked out of school because he had almost failed all of his classes. It's almost Christmas and he supposed to go home in the vacation on Wednesday. He decides to go a few days earlier to New York, where his parents live, but he doesn't go home, because he doesn't want his parents to know he has been kicked out of school again. He checks in a hotel and goes to the Ernie's, a night-club. He has been there before with his brother D.B. He dances the whole evening with a blond girl, but she's only interested in celebrities so he goes back to the hotel. At the hotel, the elevator-boy says that he's a pimp and that he can arrange him a five-dollar prostitue. He takes the deal and a few minutes later the prostitute, named Sunny, arrives at his room. He was excited because he thought that he could lose his virginity that night, but when she takes her sweater off, he realizes that he doesn't feel right so he sends her away after he pays her. She wants ten dollar instead of the five dollar he had arranged with the elevator-boy. He doesn't give her the ten-dollar and a few minutes later, she comes back with Maurice. He still doesn't pay and Maurice smashes Holden against a wall and punches him. Holden starts to cry. He pays them and they go away. The next morning he gives Sally, his formal girlfriend, a call and they go see a movie. They spend the whole afternoon together and after that they go ice-skating. Later, in a bar, he tells her he wants to get a job so that they can marry each other. He was really serious. Sally didn't want to go and he called her a 'serious pain in the ass'. She ran away and he felt lonely. He phoned an old friend of his to get a drink together that night. They meet in some bar downtown. It isn't going well between them and after a while, Holden's friend, Carl Luce, leaves. Holden stays and he gets really drunk. When he's drunk, he calls Sally to apologize for his behavior that afternoon. Then, he decides to go and visit his little sister Phoebe and he goes to his parents' home. His parents aren't home so he talks to Phoebe a long time. Suddenly his parents come home and he hides in the closet. When his parents are in bed, he leaves and goes to Mr. Antolini, a former teacher who is a family friend. Holden tells him the whole story. He begins to sleep there that night, but when he awakes, he sees Mr.Antolini stroking his head so he gets out of his house as soon as possible. He goes to the station and stays there for the rest of the night. He decides to run away and he writes Phoebe a letter. It says that he will run away to the west ad that she has to come to the park after school. When she comes she is carrying a suitcase with her; she wants to go with him. He tells her it isn't possible and they got an argument. It causes him to let go of the idea and they make up. Holden comes home with Phoebe. He takes Phoebe to ride on a carousel and that is where he finally finds peace and the innocence he was looking for.