When Molly learns that it really was the Virginian who gave her the horse, she regrets not accepting his invitation, and they start riding together regularly. The Virginian shows her a different side of the West than she knew—he shows her the beauty, the sheer vastness, of Wyoming.
"You take life too serious, Virginia," Steve replies. But he agrees to quit to save the Virginian from having to turn him in.
Returning to Molly, the Virginian doesn't tell her what he found. When they get back to the ranch house, he tells her goodbye. He will be gone for a while, gathering cattle for the roundup. He asks her to think about marrying him. "You think it over," he says. "Next time give me your answer."
He adds, "If I know when I'm coming back, I'll try and let ya know. More likely, you'll just see me showing up."
She watches him ride out of sight.
While gathering the cattle, the Virginian runs into trouble; during a stampede (orchestrated by Trampas), a couple hundred head of cattle—and Steve—disappear.
With a sheriff who refuses to take action, the ranchers appoint the Virginian to lead a group of men to apprehend the rustlers. They search until they see smoke from a campfire in the distance.
They dismount and sneak (apparently a long stretch on foot; see photo above) to the clearing where they find three of Trampas's men. Trampas himself is nowhere around. The Virginian is saddened to find Steve in the brush a little ways away from the other men.
"I was hoping I wouldn't find you here."
"Yeah, I know," Steve answers. "But don't worry. I'll dust outta this country fast and leave you in the clear. . . . You're gonna let me go, aren't you?"
But the Virginian knows he can't.
He can't turn his back on the law just because the lawbreaker is his friend.
And so the ranchers, hoping to find Trampas, hold the three rustlers in an abandoned shack until the next morning, but everyone knows what is coming with the new day: a hanging.
Steve keeps talking and playing cards cheerfully. The Virginian says nothing.
When the sun comes up and Trampas cannot be found, it is time for Steve and the other outlaws to take their punishment. Steve, singing a tune, leads the way to the hanging tree.
"I'll be glad when this is over," one of the ranchers says to the Virginian.
He replies, "It won't be over for me. I'm heading for the Teton Range. There's only one man responsible for this: Trampas."
Standing beneath the tree, Steve doles out his possessions to the ranchers. He leaves his gun, gun belt, and a note with one of the men to give to the Virginian later.
Just before the men are hanged, the Virginian asks if they have anything to say. None of them do. A quail call sounds. Steve and the Virginian look at each other, recognizing their special whistle, but it is a real bird making the sound.
Finally, the horses are run off from underneath the men, and it is over.
Afterwards, the Virginian receives the things Steve left for him. The note is short: So long. I couldn't have spoken without playing the crybaby.
Fueled by his grief, the Virginian goes after Trampas. He follows tracks up into the high country, and nearly reaches his objective, but Trampas spots him from the trail above and shoots him in the back. He is found unconscious and brought back to the Taylor's ranch.
Molly, who is unaware of what happened to Steve, sits by the Virginian's bedside many weeks while he recovers. Her feelings for him grow.
One day she learns the truth about Steve from her pupils. Horrified, she decides to leave Wyoming on the next stagecoach, but Andy (Burke), the stage driver, likens her to a stubborn mule and convinces her to go back to the man she loves—the Virginian.
And a wedding date is soon set.
The day before Molly and the Virginian are to be married, they travel to town. Trampas shows up and challenges the Virginian to a gunfight at sundown.
Molly finds out and tries to convince him to run, but he holds his ground. She tells him she won't marry him if he goes through with the fight.
"Can you look at me and say that? Can you?" he says softly.
"Don't do this, for my sake, please," is all she can say back.
"I haven't any choice."
And so it happens. Trampas and the Virginian (armed with Steve's gun) walk the empty streets of town looking for each other. Trampas attempts an ambush, but the Virginian sees him in time, and shoots back. Trampas is killed.
Molly runs out of the hotel and embraces her soon-to-be husband. "Oh, darling, you're safe! It wasn't you."
The movie ends as the Virginian and Mrs. Virginian ride off into the sunset.
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The Virginian is a 1946, Paramount Pictures production.
87 minutes running time.
Directed by: Stuart Gilmore
Produced by: Paul Jones
Cinematography by: Harry Hallenberger
Screenplay by: Frances Goodrich
Albert Hackett
Edward E. Paramore
Adaptation by: Howard Eastbrook
Edited by: Everett Douglas
Music Score by: Daniele Amfitheatroth
Costumes by: Edith Head
Set Decoration by: John MacNeil
Art Direction by: Hans Dreier
John Meehan
Special Photographic Effects by: Gordon Jennings
Stunts: Bill Hurley
Audrey Scott
Wally West