Wuthering Heights

Below you'll find a summary of Wuthering Heights divided into the different story arcs involving different sets of characters. Of course there is so much more contained within the pages of Wuthering Heights, but this is probably as thorough a summary as we'd discuss in book club. For a complete list of the characters and their relationship to one another, visit this post. This summary will include plot spoilers.

Mr. Lockwood and Ellen Dean
Mr. Lockwood is the new tenant at Thrushcross Grange, a property owned by Mr. Heathcliff. Ellen Dean is the housekeeper at the Grange and, after Mr. Lockwood falls ill after a horrible night spent at Wuthering Heights - Mr. Heathcliff's home - she regales him with the history of the families of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange leading up to how Mr. Heathcliff is now owner of both properties.

Hindley and Heathcliff
It all started about thirty years before when Mr. Earnshaw of Wuthering Heights decided to walk to Liverpool one day. He did not return for a few days and his family - Mrs. Earnshaw, his son Hindley, and daughter Cathy who is eight years younger than Hindley - grows distressed. Eventually he does return home but not alone. Surprise! He has a young boy, about Cathy's age with him which they name Heathcliff. Mr. Earnshaw is very fond of Heathcliff but Hindley is not and Hindley works hard to make life horrible for Heathcliff. A couple of years go by and Mrs. Earnshaw dies and Hindley starts to hate his father too for how he favours Heathcliff. 
Hindley eventually goes off to school but he returns at the death of his father. Hindley brings back a wife (Frances) and they settle into Wuthering Heights. Hindley becomes tyrannical towards Heathcliff and is very mean to him. Heathcliff vows to one day get revenge on Hindley for how he is treated even though he bears it quietly, hate and anger are boiling in him deeply.
Frances gives birth to a son, Hareton, and then by the end of that same year dies of consumption. Hindley abuses Hareton and in his grief for his wife becomes a drunk. He oppresses Heathcliff continuously.  One day a drunk Hindley drops Hareton over the stairs and Heathcliff happens to be at the bottom and catches Hareton. Heathcliff is quite upset that he has caught Hareton because he would have rather seen Hindley grieve for his son and be miserable. (Poor Hareton! He's just a toddler at this point and has no strong father figure because his dad is terrible to him!)
There is much hatred between Hindley and Heathcliff and Heathcliff is still waiting for a moment to get back at Hindley for all the bad things he's done to him.

Heathcliff and Cathy when they are young
Heathcliff's relationship with the other Earnshaw child, Cathy, is quite different than his relationship with Hindley. Cathy and Heathcliff become great friends, doing everything and anything together. While Heathcliff is quiet and bottles up his anger and hatred, Cathy is saucy, selfish, and a whirlwind. But they get along very well together. One night when they are teenagers they decide to trek the four miles over to Thrushcross Grange to spy on Edgar and Isabella Linton who are close in age to them. While they're spying on Edgar and Isabella they laugh, the children inside hear them, and the dogs are released to find the intruders. Cathy is bit by one of the dogs and invited inside to be treated while Heathcliff is not invited. Cathy stays at Thrushcross Grange until Christmas. When she returns to Wuthering Heights she is almost a little lady and has befriended the beautiful Lintons. This is the beginning of the division between Heathcliff and Cathy. When Cathy returns she talks a lot about her new friends, Edgar and Isabella. Heathcliff is jealous and fights with Catherine.

Heathcliff, Cathy, Edgar, and Isabella
Cathy continues to build her relationship with Edgar and Isabella, but especially Edgar who is in love with her. This creates a rift between her and Heathcliff because Heathcliff and Edgar do not like each other at all. One night Cathy confides in Ellen Dean, who is the housekeeper of Wuthering Heights at the time, that Edgar has proposed to her and she says yes. But she is conflicted because she loves Heathcliff but could not marry him because Hindley has degraded him and it would be embarrassing to be married to Heathcliff. Heathcliff overhears this and runs away while Cathy continues talking to Ellen Dean. Cathy says "My love for Linton is like the foliage in the woods: time will change it, I'm well aware, as winter changes the trees. My love for Heathcliff resembles the eternal rocks beneath: a source of little visible delight, but necessary. Nelly, I am Heathcliff! He's always, always in my mind: not as a pleasure, any more than I am always a pleasure to myself, but as my own being."
Joseph comes into the kitchen looking for Heathcliff and then it is discovered that he had heard the bad part of Cathy's comments and ran away. Cathy is very distraught at hearing this and sits outside in a thunderstorm all night waiting for him to return. He does not and she gets a wicked flu. Mrs. Linton helps take care of her but ends up contracting the flu and she and her husband Mr. Linton die. Heathcliff does not return for several years.
During that time Cathy and Edgar do get married and move to Thrushcross Grange. Ellen Dean comes with Cathy to the Grange and Edgar and Cathy are moderately happy in their marriage. Then one day Heathcliff, now very wealthy, returns to the area and plots his revenge against those who have mistreated him (Hindley because of his childhood and Edgar for taking away the love of his life... although he will not hurt Edgar in any way that would upset Cathy because he loves Cathy so).
Cathy is so happy to see him while Edgar is less enthused about his return. Hindley allows Heathcliff to stay at Wuthering Heights because Heathcliff is lending him money for his gambling addiction. When Hindley dies he has so much debt towards Heathcliff that Heathcliff inherits Wuthering Heights and it does not get passed on to Hareton, the rightful head of the household. By cutting of Hindley's son as heir, Heathcliff has finally gotten revenge against Hindley.
He also works his way into line for inheriting Thrushcross Grange by leading on Isabella Linton. She thinks he is misunderstood and has a crush on him, which Cathy tries very hard to destroy (because she loves Heathcliff and doesn't want Isabella to have him). Cathy is unsuccessful in this and Isabella runs off with Heathcliff to get married. When they return as husband and wife to Wuthering Heights Heathcliff treats Isabella very cruelly, her brother will not visit her because he's so upset by her actions. Isabella eventually runs away to London where she gives birth to a son, Linton. She and the boy stay there.
Cathy also becomes pregnant but during the pregnancy becomes ill (in part because she throws herself into a fit due to the tension between Heathcliff and Edgar) and dies. The child survives though and is named Catherine after her mother. Heathcliff is destroyed by Cathy's death and often begs her spirit to remain on earth haunting him, for it is better that way to be haunted than to be left without her. Edgar is also grieved by Cathy's death and visits her grave every year. Heathcliff stays at Wuthering Heights and Edgar and Young Catherine live at Thrushcross Grange - four miles apart from each other but never crossing paths.

Young Catherine, Hareton, and Linton
Thirteen years pass from Cathy's death and Young Catherine has grown up in the confines of Thrushcross Grange's property with Ellen Dean as her nursemaid. One day though she adventures outside of the property and discovers that Wuthering Heights is just over the hill and meets her cousin Hareton. Young Catherine is headstrong like her mother was, but gentler because of her father's influence. She is also beautiful.
Soon after Catherine meets her cousin Hareton, Isabella dies in London and Linton comes to Thrushcross Grange. Edgar is hoping he will be able to stay there with them but Heathcliff comes to take his son to Wuthering Heights. Linton is sickly and whines a lot and Heathcliff treats him even more brutally than he treated Isabella.
Three years after that, Catherine is walking in the moors and meets Heathcliff who invites her back to Wuthering Heights to spend time with Linton. She and Linton have a secret romance where they pass letters back and forth. Ellen Dean discovers their romance and quashes it but Catherine can't be discouraged and sneaks out of the house to spend time with Linton, who is continuously growing frailer. It is soon apparent that Linton is pursuing Catherine because Heathcliff is forcing him to (if Linton and Catherine got married then Heathcliff would have a claim on Thrushcross Grange, completing his long steeped revenge against Edgar). Edgar is growing ill and when he is close to death Heathcliff leads Ellen Dean and Catherine to Wuthering Heights where he keeps them prisoner until Catherine marries Linton.
Catherine does marry Linton and her father dies shortly after. His death is quickly followed by Linton's own. Heathcliff does not allow Catherine to return to Thrushcross Grange though and keeps her at Wuthering Heights (and rents out Thrushcross Grange to Mr. Lockwood). Heathcliff now owns both Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange and has exacted his revenge on Hindley and Edgar by taking their properties and oppressing their children (for Hareton still lives at Wuthering Heights but is made to work hard and has not been given an education). Ellen Dean's story ends as she has reached the present time with Mr. Lockwood - who is appalled by Heathcliff's character and wants to end his tenancy immediately - and returns to London. Six months later though he is back near Thrushcross Grange and, since he's technically still renting it, plans to spend the night. Ellen Dean is not there and he discovers her at Wuthering Heights where she fills him in on what has happened in his absence.
Catherine, forced to live at Wuthering Heights, grows to love Hareton even though when they first met she mocked him for his stupidity and inability to read. Heathcliff goes crazy as he continues to talk to Cathy's ghost - everything he sees reminds him of her. He spends a night walking on the moors and dies shortly afterwards. Heathcliff has himself buried right next to Cathy's grave with the sides of their caskets opened so they can literally be lying next to each other.
With the death of Heathcliff, Hareton and Catherine inherit Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. They are no longer oppressed by Heathcliff and in their love decide to marry the coming New Year's Day. They do get married and, presumably, they live happily ever after.
The book ends with Mr. Lockwood visiting Edgar, Cathy, and Heathcliff's graves - all of which are lined up beside one another.