How to Romance and Marry Sam in Stardew Valley

Are you a new Stardew Valley player and have your eyes set on the spiky blonde-haired Sam, one of the many marriage candidates in Pelican Town? Well, we have got a perfect guide for you here that will explain the process to romance Sam. From how to level up your relationship and heart events to how to date and finally marry Sam in Stardew Valley, we have covered it all. So, if you’re ready, let’s begin!

Table of Contents

Give Sam Gifts to Level up Your Relationship

To level up your relationship with Sam, or any other romanceable character for that matter, you should increase their friendship points. The most common way to do that is by giving gifts. You need to learn what gifts to give to Sam to earn his affection.

Sam will react differently to different items in-game. For example, if you give him his favorite gifts like cactus fruit or pizza, he’ll react positively and say: “Aw, yea! This is my absolute favorite!” So, go through our Stardew Valley gift guide for Sam to learn all his likes and dislikes.

If this happens on a regular day, you will receive 80 friendship points. However, if you give Sam his favorite gift on a special day, the points you receive will be multiplied. So, you will get 80 x 8 = 640 points if you give Sam his favorite gift on Summer 17, his birthday. The same goes for the Feast of the Winter Star festival, which will yield 400 points if you give Sam a loved gift.

The meter displayed next to the person’s name in the social tab of your inventory is not measured with points but hearts. One heart is worth 250 points. So, if you give Sam a loved gift like pizza for his birthday, you’ll receive 2.5 hearts, which is a big boost.

So, don’t forget to give Sam a loved gift on Summer 17. Though, you might be thinking about which the other loved and liked gifts are. Well, we’ve already prepared a guide walking you through what gifts Sam loves and dislikes, so check out what his favorites are.

You can give one gift a day and two gifts per week in total, so don’t worry if you miss a day or two. On the other side, if you give Sam the gift he doesn’t like, you’ll lose points with him. This effect will also be multiplied on his birthday and the Winter Star festival. In addition, if you don’t talk regularly to Sam, his points will slowly decrease.

Besides gifting things though, you can also do other actions to raise Sam’s relationship level. You can do the following:

• Talk to Sam regularly.
• Complete Sam’s quests.
• If you give two gifts a week you’ll receive a bit of a bonus of 10 points.
• Invite Sam to the Movie Theater.
• Buy a snack for Sam at the Movie Theater.
• Make certain choices in the heart events and dialogue. For example, the first choice you’ll have while talking to Sam is after he says: “I’m trying to come up with a new song for my band, but I’m blanking… Hey.. What do you think my new song should be about?” All the answers give friendship points, except the last one that makes you lose points.

All Sam Heart Events in Stardew Valley

After you achieve a certain number of hearts with Sam, cutscenes or heart events will take place. They will happen at specific times and places. You’ll also need to trigger them yourself, so let’s go over all of them to see how you can start each of the heart events and what happens during them.

Two-Heart Event

The first heart event with Sam will take place in Sam’s house when he’s there. So the time, weather, and season don’t matter. Simply enter Sam’s house, in the bottom left of Pelican Town, after you’ve got two hearts and the cutscene will begin.

Sam will ask you a question on which style of music you like. There are several options that all lead to no change in friendship points and just determine the soundtrack that’ll be playing in the eight-heart event. If you choose to skip this scene, there will be no music playing then.

Three-Heart Event

To trigger the cutscene after you reach three hearts with Sam, you will have to go to the beach on a sunny day during any season except winter from 7 AM to 3 PM. Sam and his little brother Vincent will be there together. Vincent is worried if their dad will ever come back home, as he heard adults talk about military casualties. Sam reassures him and Vincent returns to playing.

Sam will then ask you about your opinion and you’ll have two options which again don’t affect the friendship points. So you’re free to choose whichever one you believe is correct. Keep in mind that this cutscene can only be played in Year 1 since Kent returns in Year 2.

Four-Heart Event

This heart event also requires you to enter Sam’s house when you have four hearts with him. No other requirement exists. He’ll accidentally drop an egg on the floor and Judi will come and ask what happened. You can then answer with the following answers:

• “Sam dropped the snack as he was handing it to me.” 
• “Sam handed me the snack and then I dropped it.”
• “Sam dropped it on purpose. He thought it would be funny.”

The first option makes you lose 10 friendship points with Sam, while the third makes you lose 50 points. Only the second option grants 50 points.

Six-Heart Event

To trigger this heart event, you will need to enter Pelican Town on a day when it’s not raining from 12 PM to 4 PM. Sam is skateboarding and grinds on Haley and Emily’s flower box. Lewis sees him and gets angry, after which he’ll ask for your opinion. You’ll have three options that don’t affect the friendship points at all.

Eight-Heart Event

The eight-heart event is pretty easy to trigger. All you need to do is exit your house between 6 AM and 8 AM, and Sam will be at your doorstep. If you saw the two-heart event, the cutscene will play. He will invite you to see his band perform. If you want this, you’ll need to go to the bus stop from 4 PM to 7 PM. The cutscene will show Sam, Sebastian, and Abigail playing instruments on the stage.

You don’t have to have the bus repaired for this scene to play. Also, the time won’t skip after the cutscene is over, but it’ll be the same as you entered the bus stop area.

Note: This is the last heart event you’ll have as just friends. If you’re serious with Sam, you’ll need to first start dating him. We’ve explained this below. Only then will you be able to marry Sam.

Ten-Heart Event

Once you reach full 10 hearts with Sam, you’ll receive his letter. You’ll need to enter the town area on a sunny day between 8 PM and midnight. The cutscene will play showing you two outside Sam’s house. He’ll say it’s cold and will sneak you into his room. He will tell you that he likes you and his mom knocks on the door. Sam hides you in his bed and soon Judi leaves.

You will then have the following options:

• Get out of the bed.
• Stay put.

If you choose the first option (Get out of the bed), you will then have two more options being:

• Move closer (this choice leads to you two sharing a kiss)
• Head for the window (you reject Sam)

If you choose the second option (Stay put), Sam will get into the bed, kiss you and say that he knew there was something special between you two. None of these choices affect your friendship points with Sam.

Note: After you reach the 10 hearts with Sam, you can get married. We’ve covered this process below. Then, you’ll be able to reach 14 hearts and play through the final cutscene.

Fourteen-Heart Event

This heart event has four parts. The first part requires you to enter the farmhouse that’s upgraded at least twice when Sam is inside from 6:10 AM and 5PM. He’ll simply say that he feels like he need to start doing something with music.

The second part requires you to enter the farmhouse three days later when Sam is inside from 6:10 AM and 5PM. Sam says he received a job offer to make music for a kids’ show and that’s not what he had in mind. You’ll then have the following choices:

• Just think of this as a stepping stone in your career…
• Just think of how happy you’ll make the children! 
• I’m sorry… 

None of these choices affect the relationship points, so feel free to go with any answer. After that, Sam will say that he’d better start thinking like a kid. The following choices are:

• That should be easy for you… 
• You could ask your little brother for help!

Again, the choices don’t affect the points at all. The third part of this heart event requires you to again enter the farmhouse three days later when Sam is inside from 6:10 AM and 5PM. Sam is working on the song and is happy with the progress.

For the final part, you have to enter the farmhouse four days later when Sam is inside from 6:10 AM and 5PM. Sam will play a video of his song in front of you, Vincent and Jas. The kids love it and Sam gets surprised. He will thank you and give you the Sam’s Boombox, which is furniture that plays the song from this heart event.

How to Date Sam in Stardew Valley

In order to start dating Sam after you reach eight hearts with him, you need to purchase the bouquet item from Pierre’s store. It is a sign you want to start dating an NPC. So, after you buy the item for 200g, give it to Sam as a gift. Then, the last two hearts will be unlocked and achievable.

How to Marry Sam in Stardew Valley

When you reach ten hearts with a romanceable NPC in Stardew Valley, you will be able to marry them. But first, you’re going to need to fulfil the following requirements:

• You’ll need to upgrade the farmhouse at least once to unlock the kitchen.
• Ten friendship hearts are necessary.
• You’ll need to repair the wooden bridge to get access to the tide pool area of the beach, which is located on the far right side.
• You mustn’t be married already.

Once you complete the steps above, you’ll receive a letter from Lewis telling you about a special item called mermaid’s pendant. You’ll need to give this item to Sam in order to get engaged and marry him in Stardew Valley. You can only get mermaid’s pendant by purchasing it from the old mariner NPC who appears on rainy days on the top side of the tidal pools area.

If the requirements above are met, this person will sell the mermaid’s pendant for 5000g. Once you obtain it, you can give it to Sam as a gift and the calendar will display a mermaid’s pendant icon on the wedding day, which is always in three days. After the cute wedding ceremony, you’ll both end up in front of your house.

New part of your house will get added too, which is Sam’s room with a computer, instruments and a bookshelf. Moreover, there will also be a half pipe behind the house, where you will find him skateboarding sometimes. Once you get settled together, Sam’s maximum hearts will change to 14.

Also, you’ll be able to give him gifts every single day, but only once per day. If you keep talking to him and giving him gifts regularly, you’ll level up your relationship further and he’ll even do some chores on the farm, like make breakfast and dinner, feed animals, repair fences and water crops. After you reach 12.5 hearts with Sam, he’ll give you a stardrop.

Finally, when you reach 14 hearts with Sam in Stardew Valley, you can play through the final heart event cutscene. You can then decide to have kids with Sam, which will require you to have the nursery in the house, or if plans don’t work out, you can get a divorce by purchasing it in the Lewis’ house for 50,000g.

And there you have it. Now you know how to level up relationship with Sam, how to date and marry him in Stardew Valley, and even have kids. Sam is a very fun and chill character that is hard to not love. So, if he’s your favorite NPC, then waste no more time and go and merry him already!