Thornton meets and falls in love with Mary Kate Danaher, Will's sister. Bound by local custom to formally declare his desire to wed Mary Kate, Thornton is initially thwarted by Will, but his Innisfree friends trick Will into believing that the widow Tillane would consent to Will's suit if Mary Kate leaves Will's house. Will then agrees to Thornton's courtship of Mary Kate.

However, Will realizes that he has been duped at Sean and Mary Kate's wedding, and holds her dowry back. Mary Kate tries to get Sean to force Will to hand it over, deeming the refusal a blow to her independence and pride, but Sean does not want to get into a confrontation. Mary Kate fails to understand his apparent cowardice. Meanwhile a tragedy from Sean's boxing past comes back to haunt him.

"The Quiet Man is director John Ford's epic romantic comedy - a loving, sentimental, nostalgic tribute to his Irish ancestry and homeland. A rich, beautifully-textured Technicolor presentation deserving of its Color Cinematography award, it was filmed mostly on location in Ireland, although some backdrops and background studio shots were obviously intermixed." - Tim Dirks, FilmSitehttp://www.filmsite.org/quie.html

"John Ford's 1952 Oscar winner is a tribute to an Ireland that exists only in the imaginations of songwriters and poets like Ford, a fairy green place where people really do say faith and begorrah." - Don Druker, Chicago Readerhttp://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/the-quiet-man/Film?oid=1072556