At the Reform Club, members are reading The Times, which announces the completion of a stretch of railway in India which should make it possible to travel around the world in eighty days. The phlegmatic Phineas Fogg wagers that he can do it, and tells his newly-engaged manservant Passepartout to pack their bags.

After travelling through the Suez Canal, they reach India. After finding that part of the railway is closed, they hire an elephant. They try to rescue an Indian princess from her husband's funeral pyre, but are captured themselves. Passepartout manages to get free, with the help of their elephant, and rescues the princess from the flaming pyre by dressing in a sheet and pretending to be a ghost. Chased by a large army, they escape by cutting the ropes of the bridge that they have just crossed, letting men and horses plunge into a ravine. They catch the boat from Calcutta with seconds to spare.

After traversing the United States, the travellers arrive back in London.