Systems engineer Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks) says goodbye to his girlfriend Kelly (Helen Hunt) and heads off on a flight to South America. En route the plane crashes into the Pacific Ocean, leaving Chuck as its only survivor. Luckily, there is an uninhabited island nearby and Chuck manages to swim to safety. After a failed attempt to escape on an inflatable raft, Chuck accepts that he is unlikely to get back to civilisation and begins to make the most of what he has around him. Four years later he is still on the island, having adapted extremely well to his new environment, but decides the time is right to make another attempt at the long journey home and sets off for a remarkable adventure on a makeshift wooden raft.