The story begins on October 2, 1872, when an English gentleman by the name of Phileas Fogg enters the Reform Club, as he has done every other afternoon of his life. Each evening he would return home alone, where only his manservant waited for him. No servant ever lasted for more than a week with meticulous Phileas Fogg. One morning a Frenchman enters the Reform Club searching for Mr. Fogg in order to apply for the currently available job of a manservant. The name of this man is Jean Passepartout . . .

Passepartout meets Mr. Fogg and is told to begin the job that very day. Fogg goes back to playing whist with his friends and, during the game, talks about the recent robbery at the Bank of England that was carried out by someone who looked like an English gentleman. The other gentlemen speculate that the police will never find the thief, since the world is large enough for him to hide in, but Phileas Fogg insists that the world is not as large as it once was. Thus was born the wager of circumnavigating the world in 80 days, with Fogg promising to return by 9:00 P.M. on Saturday, December 21, 1872.

Meanwhile, Phileas Fogg and Passepartout arrive in Egypt. They do not know that Scotland Yard has sent a detective by the name of Fix to try and catch the Bank of England thief. Fix has reached the conclusion that the robber is none other than Mr. Fogg, who is using this wager as a means of escaping from England with the stolen money. Fix plans to arrest him as soon as he receives the arrest warrant from England.

Upon arriving in India, they take a train which crosses the entire Indian subcontinent from Bombay to Calcutta. Fifty kilometers before reaching their destination, the train stops, and they discover that the railroad track has never been finished. They must go by foot through the jungle, and, while walking, come upon a suttee ceremony in which the wife of a deceased rajah is being forced to be cremated alive, together with her husband's corpse. Phileas Fogg cannot stand aside while this young woman is burned alive, and decides to rescue her. Passepartout saves the girl using a surprisingly strange idea. The young woman turns out to be a princess named Aouda. Fogg suggests that she accompanies them to Calcutta, and the Princess agrees.

In Calcutta Fix meets Fogg, Passepartout and the Princess. Since the Princess has no relatives in Calcutta, she accepts Fogg's offer to join them on their way to Japan. Fix succeeds in separating Passepartout from his master, and Passepartout is sent alone to Japan.

Due to his cold, unemotional character, Phileas Fogg has neither friends nor girlfriends. On the other hand, the Princess has been growing very fond of Fogg, and tries desperately to think of ways to capture his attention.

Meanwhile, Passepartout has arrived in Japan and has no means of support. He is hungry and decides to give a street show in order to make some money.

Phileas and the Princess hear the fuss that Passepartout is making in the street, and the meeting between them is very emotional. They arrive at the port a few minutes too late for the luxury liner, and are forced to take a steamboat across the Pacific Ocean. There is not enough coal to run full speed ahead, and Phileas Fogg comes up with the brilliant idea of buying the ship from its captain and feeding the fire with all the wooden parts of the ship.

At the California Hotel in San Francisco, Fogg rewards the strange man whom they found floating on a raft in the ocean. They had given him a lift, and he had allowed them to burn his wooden raft in order to reach the coast of America. They meet Fix again in the hotel, but he cannot arrest Fogg yet because they are not on British soil. A grand ball is taking place tonight in the hotel.

Phileas Fogg wants, so very much, to share his feelings with the Princess, but he has never learned how to express his emotions. he tries, but the bar singer with his love song, keeps confusing him while he tries to express himself.

The next day Fogg, Passepartout, Aouda and Fix take a train from San Francisco to New York. A tribe of Indians attacks this train of white men, kidnaps Passepartout, and forces Phileas Fogg to go after his servant and attempt to rescue him. This time Aouda saves the day by talking to the Indian Chief, using both reason and emotion. But only the Chief's wife understands the depth of her ideas. Passepartout is set free and a feast takes place.

Passepartout knows that this delay is costing his master the wager, but Fogg comforts him and promises him that they will find a way. The Chief's wife tells them about a strange craft that they do not know how to operate. Fogg identifies it almost immediately as a hot air balloon.

An even greater surprise awaits Phileas Fogg. Passepartout goes to the Priest to set a date for the wedding, only to find out that today is Saturday and not Sunday as they had all thought. Passepartout rushes back to Phileas and Aouda to inform them that there still may be time to reach the Reform Club, if only they hurry.

The End