The Story Early 20th century. Martin Eden is a young Oakland sailor born in the shallows (as well as in ignorance and violence). His life is made up of adventures, travels, but also brutality and work. This is how he defends a young man in a brawl. He comes from the wealthy class and invites him to dinner to thank him. On this occasion Martin meets his sister Ruth Morse, delicate girl from a bourgeois family of which he falls in love. He decides to learn to conquer it. Little by little, first to please the girl he loves, then for real taste of study, he forges an encyclopedic culture and strives to become famous by becoming a writer. But despite the talent he thinks he has, he can not live by his pen. Ruth, who becomes his fiancee, would prefer that he find a safe situation, rather than continue writing. He finds that the bourgeoisie, which was his initial model, understands nothing about culture, only a few people like his friend Russ Brissenden actually talk to him. Following the publication of an article in a local paper in which he is presented as a socialist, what he is not, Ruth leaves. Brissenden dies while Eden has published his poem. He no longer likes to write, but suddenly he becomes a successful author. He sends to the magazines the works he had submitted previously but this time the publishers accept them and ask for more, propelling it to the top. Wanting to free himself from the invading hypocrisy, Martin Eden leaves to settle on an island of the Pacific. On the boat, having no longer any taste for anything, he lets himself slip into the sea."