A practical young English solicitor crosses the Carpathians on business as mounting warnings turn his journey into a nightmare.
Jonathan Harker, a young English solicitor's clerk, travels from London through central Europe to complete a property transaction for Count Dracula. Curious and methodical, he records languages, food, history, and local customs in shorthand, partly so he can share them with his fiancée, Mina Murray. His confidence falters in Bistritz when the innkeepers react to Dracula's name with terror and their landlady begs him not to travel on St. George's Eve.
Duty carries Jonathan into the Borgo Pass, where frightened passengers give him protective charms. A mysterious, immensely strong driver collects him in Dracula's calèche, circles among ghostly blue flames, and commands a ring of wolves to withdraw. Jonathan reaches a vast ruined castle shaken, isolated, and no longer able to dismiss the peasants' fears as superstition.
Jonathan is a young Englishman, but his build, coloring, hair, face, and traveling clothes have not yet been described.
Jonathan is the first recorder of the strange history and the unsuspecting agent sent into Dracula's country. His disciplined journal turns his private dread into evidence.