At Number 7 Saville Row, Phileas Fogg awaits his new servant, having dismissed his old one, James Forster, for bringing his shaving water at 84 degrees instead of his accustomed 86 degrees. He greets the new servant, a Frenchman named Jean Passepartout, who in the past had been a circus performer, a firefighter, and singer, and now wishes to live a domestic life. Fogg accepts Passpartout as his new servant before leaving for the Reform Club.
At the Reform Club, Fogg reads newspapers and plays whistnote with his fellow club members John Sullivan, a banker, Andrew Stuart, an engineer, Samuel Fallentin, another banker, Thomas Flannagan, a brewer and Gautier Ralph, one of the directors of the Bank of England. Fogg finds himself in the men’s argument over the opening of a new railway in India and a robbery at the Bank where a “gentleman” made off with £55,000. While the others figure the robber could elude the law, Fogg is convinced that the world has gotten smaller, so a man can travel around it in no more than eighty days.
As Sullivan figures it out:
Fogg wagers £20,000 that he can return to the Reform Club at a quarter to 9 note on 21 December. The other members agree. Returning to his home, Fogg tells Passepartout to pack a carpet bag with two shirts and three pairs of stockings for himself and the same for Passepartout. Fogg also puts £20,000 of his own money to pay for any expenses on the way. Soon enough at a quarter before 9 p.m. Fogg and Passepartout leave by rail. No sooner has the rail left, when Passepartout realizes that he left the gas lamp on, which Fogg decides that it should burn at Passepartout’s expense.
Over at Suez, Detective Fix of Scotland Yard awaits the arrival of the steamer Mongolia for he suspects Fogg of being the man who robbed the Bank of England. Fogg and Passepartout get ready to sail on the Mongolia to Bombay, while Fix follows them. Fogg offers to pay the captain for early arrival to Bombay. On the way, Passepartout becomes acquainted with Fix, whom Passepartout believes to be with the Reform Club.
The Mongolia arrives two days ahead of schedule.
Upon arriving on Bombay, Passepartout ends up in a temple where, accosted by furious priests, ends up losing his shoes before joining Fogg on the rail to Calcutta. It is here that Fogg and Passepartout meet Sir Francis Cromarty, a British officer stationed at India. After making a stop at Burhampoor, Passepartout is able to buy a pair of slippers. The rail resumes its way, only to stop at the hamlet of Kohlby. The railway, as it turns out, is unfinished with fifty miles to be laid between Kohlby and Allahabad.
Fogg, joined by Passepartout and Cromarty, purchases an elephant named Kiouni and hires a young Parsee guide and the four venture into the jungle. One night, the four witness a group of Brahmins on a funeral procession for the Rajah of Bundelcund. The guide mentions that his widow, a beautiful Parsee woman, is to be burned with him in a ceremony called “sati” or “sutee”. The guide reveals that the woman, whose name is Aouda, is led against her will and only a combination of opium and hemp fumes keeps her from resisting. Fogg decides to rescue her, thus Passepartout decides to take the Rajah’s place. Rising, Passepartout frightens the gathered Brahmins and makes off with the unconscious Aouda to join up with Fogg, Cromarty and the guide to flee on Kiouni the elephant. At Allahabad, Fogg leaves Kiouni to the guide before leaving with Passepartout, Cromarty and Aouda who has recovered and dressed in an European style dress.A grateful Aouda joins Fogg and Passepartout to Hong Kong where she has a relative while Cromarty drops off at Benares to join with his troops. Soon, Fogg and company proceed to Calcutta.
In Calcutta, Fogg, Passepartout and Aouda are brought to one Judge Obadiah, who presides over Passepartout’s trial regarding his disturbance of the temple at Bombay, with Passepartout’s own shoes as evidence. This has been arranged by Fix himself in order to delay Fogg until the warrant for Fogg’s arrest arrives. Fogg offers to pay bail for Passepartout’s release, and Passepartout’s shoes returned to him. Much to Fix’s frustration Fogg and his companions head to the steamer Rangoon, ready to leave for Hong Kong with a day’s stopover at Singapore. Passepartout meets Fix again. In Hong Kong, Aouda learns that her relative has left for Holland, so Fogg has no alternative but to allow her to join him and Passepartout on their journey. Soon Passepartout finds himself in the company of Fix, who tells Passepartout that he believes Fogg has stolen £55,000 but Passepartout refuses to believe him. Fix has Passepartout join him in an opium den where Passepartout ends up unconscious and taken aboard the Carnatic on its way to Yokohama. Fix then tries to delay Fogg but Fogg decides to take another steamer, the Tankadere, forcing Fix to join Fogg and Aouda, failing to keep him in Hong Kong even after the warrant is in his hands, thus Fix must ensure Fogg reaches England.
At the Carnatic, Passepartout is dismayed to find that Fogg and Aouda have not come with him. The Carnatic reaches Yokohama, and Passepartout ends up joining a circus owned by one William Batulcar and becomes a performer.
Fogg and Aouda, having arrived on the Tankadere, find Passepartout and the three are reunited. On the paddle steamer General Grant, headed to San Francisco, Passepartout beats up Fix, but Fix convinces Passepartout that since the warrant he received in Hong Kong is useless since Fogg isn’t on British soil anymore, he will aid Fogg in reaching England.
The General Grant arrives at San Francisco where Fogg and his companions witness a heated celebration regarding two candidates for Justice of the Peace named Camerfield and Mandiboy. It is there that Fogg encounters one Colonel Stamp Proctor who comes to blows with Fogg. Wasting no time, the travelers board the train to New York.The ride is anything but uneventful: a herd of buffalo stops the train for some time, a Mormon preacher pontificates, and Col. Proctor is aboard the train. Aouda confides in both Passepartout and Fix to keep Fogg from meeting Proctor again.At Medicine Bow, the bridge is in very bad condition. Only by going at high speed does the train keep from falling when the bridge collapses. Afterwards, during a game of whist, Fogg encounters Proctor and the two decide to duel. Suddenly the train is attacked by a band of Sioux. Passepartout manages to release the engine so the cars can make a stop at Fort Kearny, but he ends up being captured. Fogg decides to rescue Passepartout joined by a small group of soldiers, while Aouda and Fix wait for him. After a long night, Fogg returns with Passepartout. In order to reach Omaha in time, Fogg and his companions acquire a sled with sails from a man named Mudge to speed over the snow covered plain, reaching Omaha before noon. The group manages to take a train to Chicago where they take another train to New York, but when they arrive, the China, headed for Liverpool, has already left.
Fogg notices a paddle steamer called the Henrietta whose captain, one Andrew Speedy, is headed for Bordeaux. After paying $8000, Speedy agrees to take Fogg and his companions. Halfway through the Atlantic, Fogg locks Speedy in his cabin and convinces the crew to take him to Liverpool. The Henrietta begins to run out of coal, so Fogg offers to buy the Henrietta from Speedy while taking down all available wood for burning.
Fogg and company arrive at Liverpool when suddenly, Fix arrests Fogg. A few hours later, Fix releases Fogg, explaining that the real robber, a man named James Strand, had been arrested three days before in Edinburgh. After giving Fix a punch, Fogg, Passepartout and Aouda manage to take a train to London, but by the time they arrive, it is 10 minutes to nine.
Five minutes too late.
Fogg, convinced that he has lost the wager, returns to his home at 7 Saville Row with Aouda and Passepartout, who turns off the gas burner. Fogg apologizes to Aouda for bringing her to England now that he is without wealth. Aouda, for her part lets him know that since he has no relatives nor close friends, she wants to marry him and Fogg accepts her proposal. He tells Passepartout to seek a priest to marry Fogg and Aouda. When Passepartout returns, he informs Fogg that he actually arrived a day early. Fogg realizes that by going eastward and crossing the International Date Line, Fogg actually gained an extra day and he still has time to win his wager.
At the Reform Club, Sullivan, Fallentin, Flanagan, Stuart and Ralph wait. Suddenly, just before the clock strikes a quarter to nine, Fogg arrives at the Club to the others’ surprise and wins the bet.
Of the £20,000 Fogg brought with him, only £1000 remain and which are split between Fix and Passepartout (minus what Passepartout owes the gas company).
