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" 봉고차, 반 Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina 봉고차, 반 Tassel, only daughter of a wealthy farmer. As 기중기, 크레인 leaves a party at the 봉고차, 반 Tassel 집 on an autumn night, he is pursued 의해 the Headless Horseman, supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who 로스트 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." 기중기, 크레인 disappears from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related."