Robinson Crusoe runs away to sea, is shipwrecked, and leads a solitary life on an uninhabited island for twenty-four years. Many difficulties arise in his primitive existence and he handles them all with ingenuity.
He saves a native on the island from cannibals and makes him his companion and servant - naming him Friday for that was the day of the rescue.
Crusoe and Friday share a variety of adventures including a violent battle with cannibals, a recapturing of a mutinous ship and returning to England.