Season 5

Complete listed story — includes the ending

1. The Fiery Cross

In 1770, Roger and Brianna are formally married, though the festivities are marred by news, from Lord John, that Stephen Bonnet has been seen around Wilmington. Jamie offers room and board to a young man, Josiah Beardsley, who offers to hunt for the Ridge. Aunt Jocasta names Brianna's son, Jeremiah MacKenzie who is called "Jemmy," heir to River Run, mostly to test if Roger married Brianna for money; she and Murtagh, who is still involved with her, comment positively on his response. Governor Tryon orders Col. James Fraser to muster a militia in order to oppose the Regulators, which he does by appealing to Highland traditions, particularly the firing of a Celtic cross. He names Roger MacKenzie his captain and deputy whilst he is abroad. Finally, he releases Murtagh from his oath of loyalty to Ellen MacKenzie and therefore her son Jamie, allowing him to hide.

2. Between Two Fires

Murtagh leads a mob of Regulators in tarring and feathering Wilmington public servants. Jamie, accompanied by British Army officer Lt. Knox, leads the search for the Regulators whilst simultaneously working to free them, leading Murtagh to compliment him on how well he navigates between two fires. Back at Fraser's Ridge, a settler dies of appendicitis, leading Claire to fret over the (lack of) medical education in this time. She writes some advice, particularly on women's reproductive health, using the pen name "Dr. Rawlings" after the person who first owned the equipment Jamie bought her, but decides not to do anything with it, instead choosing to teach Marsali to become her assistant. She also begins to search for a certain type of mold, hoping to create homemade penicillin.

3. Free Will

Jamie has Fergus write a note to be sent to a printer; Fergus grabs one of "Dr. Rawlings"'s manuscripts, without realizing, to write the note on. Jamie, joined by Claire, then leads the militia to Brownsville. As they travel, the camp is infiltrated by Josiah Beardsley – or, rather, his twin brother Keziah. Jo admits that both he and Kezzie are indentured servants to a man named Aaron Beardsley, and Jamie resolves to buy their contracts while sending Roger ahead with the militia. However, Beardsley's wife, Fanny, is largely unhelpful, mostly to hide the fact that she has bludgeoned Beardsley in the attic and left him lying there for days, taking revenge on a man who raped and beat her. She then gives birth to her child, conceived of a love affair between herself and a (Black) slave. She abandons her daughter with the Frasers, who bring the child with them after finding Jo and Kezzie's contracts and putting Aaron Beardsley out of his misery.

4. The Company We Keep

Capt. Roger MacKenzie, arriving in Brownsville with the Ridge militia, finds himself caught in a family feud: one of Jamie's men-at-arms, Isaiah Morton, has defiled Alicia Brown, bringing an end to a lucrative arranged marriage, and now Lionel and Richard Brown, joint heads of the family, want his head. Roger struggles to keep the peace, losing the respect of some of Jamie's men in the process, while buying time for Jamie to arrive. One of the Browns adopts the Beardsley infant, but as Claire is conducting business, she learns that her "Dr. Rawlings" notes have been published by accident, and that both Lionel and Richard Brown are irate at their wives cutting them off. Alicia protests that she and Isaiah were in love and that he promised marriage; Isaiah protests that he is already married, though he does not love his wife; in the end, Jamie arranges for the two to elope together.

5. Perpetual Adoration

At the Ridge, Claire continues her quest to create penicillin, whilst having flashbacks to a (20th-century) Scottish patient who died of penicillin allergy – which, among other things, inspired her return to Scotland in 1968 and discovery of Jamie's survival. Roger finds the gemstone Stephen Bonnet gave for the upkeep of his son Jemmy, and Brianna admits to him that Bonnet may still be alive – and, she fears, nearby (she had a suspicion of being watched in the previous episode). Roger is offended that she implied Jemmy might be Bonnet's, knowing she would never do so without believing in the possibility herself. Finally, Gov. Tryon, in an effort to alleviate the Regulator crisis, offers pardons to all of them except Murtagh Fitzgibbons. Lt. Knox, searching for Murtagh's known associates, gets his hands on the roster for Ardsmuir Prison; Jamie is forced to strangle him to obscure his connection to Murtagh.

6. Better to Marry Than Burn

Aunt Jocasta has chosen to wed Duncan Inness; Jamie and Claire attend in person. They meet Philip Wiley, a fop and a dandy, and leverage his flirtations with Claire into a promise to set them up with a smuggler who can ship out Jamie and Fergus's whiskey: Stephen Bonnet. Back at the Ridge, a swarm of locusts threatens the crop, and Roger and Brianna take charge to drive them off. Finally, Murtagh sneaks into River Run and makes an impassioned plea for Jocasta's love, but Jocasta reveals her own tragic past: married to a Jacobite, she, her husband Hector Cameron, and their daughter Morna fled after Culloden, only to be apprehended by Redcoats and French Jacobite gold found in their possession; Morna was slain in the chaos, proof to Jocasta that she should never marry someone who loves politics more than his family. Murtagh, though not denying her accusations, promises that she will always be second-most-important to him.

7. The Ballad of Roger Mac

In May 1771, Jamie turns 50. Governor Tryon has massed his soldiers and militia to exterminate the Regulator movement once and for all. Brianna, staying with a family in nearby Burlington, North Carolina, learns that the royalists and Regulators are camped on either side of the Great Alamance Creek, and rushes into camp with recollections from her studies: the Battle of Alamance, which will inspire the American Revolution, ends with a resounding Regulator defeat. Jamie sends Roger to warn Murtagh, on grounds that Murtagh will be more likely to believe a time traveler. Alas, Murtagh, no stranger to lost causes, resolves to stay, and breathes his last protecting Jamie. Even worse, Roger gets distracted by Morag MacKenzie, the woman he helped on Stephen Bonnet's ship, who is present at the Regulator camp; her husband, William Buccleigh "Buck" MacKenzie, becomes suspicious and subdues him. Jamie, Claire and Brianna find Roger hanged from a tree.

8. Famous Last Words

In a flashback to the 20th century, Professor Roger Wakefield lectures his Oxford University students on the importance of last words; Brianna, dropping in, asks him what his would be. In August 1771, Roger, who managed to survive his hanging, has become voluntarily mute, struggling with repeated post-traumatic flashbacks, rendered as black-and-white silent film which gradually gain sound and color as the episode continues. (Claire and Brianna accurately diagnose the condition.) Young Ian Murray returns to Fraser's Ridge, distinctly less talkative. Governor Tryon has furnished Roger with 5,000 acres of land in an attempt to apologize for the unlawful hanging, and both Roger and Ian are sent out to survey it; Roger, looking down a sheer cliff, has one last flashback to what he saw as he dangled – the face of his beloved wife, Brianna. He then interrupts Ian, who is also seeking solace in death after some unnamed disgrace which severed him from the Mohawk. The two return to Fraser's Ridge, ready to speak.

9. Monsters and Heroes

Whilst leading a hunting party, Jamie is bitten by a snake. Roger, his only companion, lugs him back to the Ridge. Alas, the leg has become infected, and even a last-minute scramble for maggots yields no results. Claire has penicillin, but lost her (20th-century) syringe at the Battle of Alamance, and discusses with Jamie the need to potentially amputate his leg. Jamie at first resists, but Fergus and Young Ian convince him to abandon his pride. It's Brianna, investigating the head of the snake which Roger brought back with him, who jury-rigs a syringe out of the snake's fang, allowing Jamie to recover intact.

10. Mercy Shall Follow Me

In Wilmington, Stephen Bonnet has plotted to inherit River Run, via his son Jeremiah, by arranging for Jocasta and Duncan Inness to experience accidents. First, however, he needs Jemmy. Jamie arranges for a meeting between them, but Bonnet sends an underling: he noticed Claire and Brianna around town, and contrives to kidnap Brianna. He asks her to teach him how to function in polite society, explaining his past as an orphan and confessing his nightmares of drowning with no one to help. However, when Brianna is unable to fake affection for him, he arranges for her to be sold to a white slaver. Fortunately, Jamie, Claire and Roger have arrived to intervene. Brianna has Bonnet taken back to Wilmington and tried for his crimes, and he is sentenced to death by drowning; Brianna, watching from the shore, shoots him – both putting him out of his misery and ensuring he is dead.

11. Journeycake

Lionel and Richard Brown have formed their own militia, ostensibly to protect the local region from Indians, but it is implied that they themselves are committing the "Indian" attacks. Jemmy is playing with the opal brought back by "Otter Tooth," the 1960s time traveler born as Robert Springer, and experiences it as warm – as do Claire, Roger and Brianna – while Ian and Jamie find it cool to the touch. This confirms to the Frasers that, whatever quality enables time travel, Jemmy has it. The MacKenzies decide to return to the 1970s and spend the episode saying their goodbyes and packing up to leave, while Ian becomes only the third 18th-century citizen (after Murtagh and Jamie himself) to learn that Claire, Roger and Brianna are from the future. At their farewell dinner, Claire treats them to what she calls "18th-century journeycake": peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Meanwhile, Lionel Brown's wife is injured and he brings her to the Ridge for treatment; there, he finds Claire's medical equipment, labeled with Dr. Rawlings' name. Ian takes the MacKenzies to the standing stones outside Ocracoke, North Carolina and the three go through, only to be flabbergasted by what they see on the other side. Meanwhile, the Browns stage a raid on Jamie's whisky still. While the men of the Ridge are investigating, Lionel Brown kidnaps Claire.

12. Never My Love

Claire imagines a home in 1980s America at which her whole family – Army officer Ian Murray, hippies Fergus and Marsali, Jocasta and a still-living Murtagh, and Jamie himself – celebrate Thanksgiving, whilst the titular single by The Association plays on the gramophone, allowing her refuge from her 1772 reality of having been kidnapped and gang-raped. Jamie has lit the fiery cross to summon all fighting men of Fraser's Ridge to join him. This, unexpectedly, includes Roger and Brianna MacKenzie: the standing stones, apprehending their wish to return home, sent them right back out again. Claire is warned by one of Lionel Brown's followers, Wendigo Donner, to fit in more with the 1770s: Donner too is from the 1960s, and agrees to help Claire escape in exchange for a gemstone to power his return to his own time. He disappears before Jamie, Roger, Fergus, Ian and their men catch up with Lionel Brown's posse, putting them all to the sword. Only Lionel himself is left alive; Jamie brings him back to the Ridge for questioning, but he meets an untimely end after he threatens Marsali too many times. Jamie returns his corpse to Richard Brown, who promises further trouble. But Claire is safe, and with children and adopted children – Fergus, Marsali, Ian, Brianna, Roger and Jemmy – by her side, begins to recover from her ordeal.