Around the World in 80 Days recap

Phileas Fogg wagers his Reform Club companions that he can circle the world in eighty days and leaves London with his new servant Passepartout. Detective Fix, wrongly convinced Fogg robbed the Bank of England, follows and obstructs them. Crossing India, Fogg delays his schedule to rescue Aouda from a funeral pyre; she continues with them through Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States. Missed ships, storms, legal trouble, an attack on the American train, and Fix's eventual arrest of Fogg repeatedly consume their margin. Fogg returns to London apparently five minutes late and accepts defeat. When Aouda proposes marriage, Passepartout discovers that their eastward journey gained a day. Fogg reaches the Reform Club just before the actual deadline and wins. He makes little money after his costs but marries Aouda, finding happiness rather than profit.

Phileas Fogg is a rich, solitary London gentleman whose daily routine never varies. On 2 October 1872, he dismisses a servant for a tiny lapse and hires the Frenchman Passepartout, who welcomes the prospect of a peaceful household. At the Reform Club, discussion of a recent bank robbery turns to the shrinking travel times promised by modern transport. Fogg maintains that a complete circuit of the globe now takes only eighty days. He stakes twenty thousand pounds against five club members and promises to return by the evening of 21 December. With almost no preparation, he takes Passepartout and a traveling bag onto the train for Dover. News of the wager spreads quickly, while suspicion also falls on Fogg because his sudden departure resembles the bank robber's escape.

Fogg and Passepartout travel through France and Italy, then take the Mongolia from Brindisi toward Bombay. At Suez, Detective Fix decides that Fogg resembles the wanted bank robber and requests a warrant from London. He befriends Passepartout without disclosing his purpose, hoping to keep the party within British territory until authority to arrest Fogg arrives. The Mongolia reaches Bombay ahead of schedule. While Fogg remains focused on timetables and card games, Passepartout visits a Hindu temple without understanding its restrictions; angry priests chase him out after taking his shoes. The travelers board the train across India. Fogg's precision has accumulated a small lead, but Fix follows, and Passepartout's temple intrusion remains a possible legal obstacle.

The railway ends unexpectedly before Allahabad, so Fogg buys an elephant and hires a Parsee guide. Traveling with Sir Francis Cromarty, the party encounters a procession taking the young widow Aouda to die on her husband's funeral pyre. Fogg spends the time gained earlier on a rescue attempt. During the night Passepartout secretly takes the dead ruler's place, rises from the pyre carrying Aouda, and frightens the crowd long enough for everyone to escape. They reach the railway and continue to Calcutta, planning to leave Aouda with a relative in Hong Kong. There the temple priests prosecute Passepartout. Fogg pays bail rather than miss the Rangoon, and the group sails for Singapore and Hong Kong while Fix, still lacking his warrant, follows in frustration.

The Rangoon loses time in rough weather. At Hong Kong, the travelers learn that Aouda's relative has moved to Europe, and Fogg invites her to continue to England. The Carnatic's departure is moved forward. Fix finally tells Passepartout that he is a detective and tries to enlist him; Passepartout rejects the accusation against Fogg. Fix drugs him in an opium den, preventing him from warning Fogg of the new sailing time. Passepartout nevertheless staggers aboard alone, while Fogg and Aouda miss the ship. Fogg hires John Bunsby's Tankadere to carry them toward Shanghai, braving a storm to catch the steamer for Yokohama. Fix accompanies them because he too needs to leave Hong Kong. Fogg reaches Yokohama and finds Passepartout performing with an acrobatic troupe after arriving there penniless. Reunited, they sail across the Pacific for San Francisco.

In San Francisco, Fogg and Fix are caught in a violent election meeting, where Fogg quarrels with Colonel Stamp Proctor. The party boards the transcontinental train. Their route brings delays from buffalo, a failing bridge, and an attempted duel between Fogg and Proctor. An attack by Sioux warriors turns the train into a moving battle. Passepartout uncouples the cars from the engine and helps save the passengers, but he and others are captured. Fogg abandons the schedule to lead soldiers in their rescue. By the time they return, the train has gone. The resourceful Mudge carries Fogg, Aouda, and Fix across the snowy plains on a wind-powered sledge to Omaha, from which they take rapid trains toward New York. The sacrifice for Passepartout has left almost no margin for reaching the Atlantic steamer.

The travelers reach New York after the China has sailed. Fogg hires passage on Captain Speedy's Henrietta, nominally bound for Bordeaux. Once at sea, Fogg takes control from the uncooperative captain and turns the ship toward Liverpool. Coal runs short, so he buys the vessel and burns its wooden upper structures as fuel, preserving the engines long enough to reach Queenstown. A rapid route through Ireland brings the group to Liverpool with hours remaining. There Fix finally arrests Fogg. The detective soon learns the actual bank robber has already been caught and releases him, but the lost time seems decisive. Fogg uses a special train to London and arrives five minutes after the deadline. He returns to his house convinced that the wager and his fortune are lost, while Passepartout blames himself for failing to reveal Fix's identity sooner.

Fogg quietly prepares for financial ruin. Aouda, grateful for his protection and believing he has no family to comfort him, asks whether he will take her as his wife. Fogg realizes that he loves her and sends Passepartout to arrange a wedding. The errand reveals the party's unnoticed advantage: London is still Saturday, not Sunday. By traveling east around the world, they shortened each apparent day and gained twenty-four hours in the calendar. Fogg races to the Reform Club and arrives seconds before the agreed time, winning the wager. His transport costs and rewards consume nearly all the financial gain, but he divides the small balance with Passepartout and even Fix. Fogg marries Aouda. The journey's lasting reward is not wealth but the relationship he found because he chose compassion over his timetable.

Fogg reaches London believing he has arrived five minutes too late and has lost the wager. Fix has arrested him at Liverpool, only to release him when the real bank robber is found, and the resulting delay appears fatal. Back home, Fogg faces financial ruin with his customary composure. Aouda, believing his misfortune has left him alone, asks him to marry her, and he joyfully agrees. Passepartout goes to arrange the wedding and learns that it is Saturday rather than Sunday: by traveling eastward around the globe, the party crossed every meridian and gained a calendar day. Fogg races to the Reform Club and enters moments before the deadline, winning the wager. The expenses leave him little monetary profit, but he shares what remains with Passepartout and Fix. His true gain is Aouda, whom he marries.