Timeline & Summary

After failing to scale to the top of K2, Mortenson finds himself in the village of Korphe.
To repay the kindness of the people of Korphe, he decides to raise money to build a school there.
Back in the States, he sends off tons of letters requesting funds, until he eventually finds Dr. Jean Hoerni, who donates the entire amount Mortenson needs for the school.
The problem is that there's a giant gorge separating Korphe from the rest of civilization, so Mortenson has to build a bridge first.
He builds the bridge with more money from Hoerni.
At a charity function, Mortenson meets Tara Bishop and marries her after six days. He also starts his own charity, the Central Asia Institute, to build more schools.
Back in Pakistan, while scouting locations for future schools, Mortenson is kidnapped, but released.
Tara has a baby, and Mortenson finishes the Korphe school.
Eager to build more, he starts expanding his vision, helping villages get clean water, too.
He has a fatwa issued against him by a rival village leader, but it is eventually lifted.
Haji Ali, the chief of Korphe, dies, but his wisdom to "listen to the wind" (19.131), whatever that means, lives on.
As support for Mortenson's cause grows, he expands his vision to Afghanistan, but leaves that story for the next book.