Santiago was an old and experienced Cuban fisherman. but his luck had run out. He had gone 84 days without catching a single fish. In fact, he was so unlucky that his young apprentice, Manolin, had been forbidden by his parents to sail with the old man. However, the boy still visited Santiago's shack. The boy helped him carry back his fishing gear, gave him food, and discussed American baseball with him
Santiago continued to go out onto the Gulf to fish. He threw his lines and, by noon, a big fish had taken his bait. Santiago was unable to pull in the large marlin, and instead the fish pulled his boat out to sea. For two days and two nights, Santiago fought with the marlin and held on to the line Santiago felt compassion and admiration for his great opponent.
On the third day, the fish began to circle the boat and showed signs of being tired, Santiago used all the strength he has left in him to pull the fish close to the boat. With a harpoor, he killed the marlin. In this way, the struggle between the old man and the fish ended Santiago tied the marlin to the side of his boat and headed home. He was thinking about the high price the fish will bring him at the market.
While Santiago was sailing back to the shore, sharks were attracted to the blood left by the marlin in the water. The sharks began attacking and eating the dead fish. Santiago tried to protect his catch, but the sharks kept coming. When the old man finally reached the shore, he had only a skeleton of the big fish: its head, backbone, and tail. The sharks had eaten the rest. An exhausted Santiago made his way to his shack and sank onto his bed
The next day a group of fishermen gathered around his boat to admire the fish's huge skeleton. It measured 5.5 meters from nose to tail. Manolin ran to the shack in tears when he learned the old man was safe. When Santiago woke up, the two promised to fish together once again.