here is how i would tell the plot of my favorite book to someone who is not likely to read it:
cathy marries linton but is in love with heathcliff, whom she has loved since childhood; she says it would degrade her to marry heathcliff. he overhears this and leaves. he comes back having made his fortune. when he comes back, linton puts up with his visits but eventually cathy goes crazy and dies. she haunts heathcliffe for twenty years, then he goes manic and dies after having taken out all his bitterness anger and rage on anyone left of the linton and earnshaw clans.

i went crazy and died.
this is why i feel like a ghost.
(everything was figurative mind you, i'm not really typing this from beyond the grave. and for me, i wish there to be no grave. i want to be cremated and have my ashes shot into space so i can come back to earth as shooting stars.)