The story starts out with an old man and a boy. Both the boy and the old man are fishermen. They do not fish as a hobby, but a way of life. Then boy is put on another boat because the old man's luck has left him for over eighty days, which means he has not caught a fish for a very long time. The boat the boy is now on is a lucky boat and has caught fish every day that it has gone out. The boy, Manolin, is the old man's closest friend. Manolin get's up every day and helps the old man, Santiago, take the mast down to the shore to his skiff. The captain of the boy's boat does not let him carry anything, yet Santiago let him carry things when the boy was just five years old. That is how young the boy was when he first started his "classes on fishing" as I would call them.
             The boy loved Santiago with all of his heart. To prove this one day the boy bought some minnows for the old man. That same day he also bought him a "can" of coffee. That day he wanted to go fishing with the old man, but the old man refused to let the boy come with him. He said, "You are with a lucky boat, stay with it." The boy was heart broken but soon got over it and went fishing with his boat. The boat the boy was on had a captain who was nearly blind. So the boy told the old man that he would tell the captain that there was a bird circling which meant there was a fish. Manolin said he would stay near Santiago by way of this method. But Santiago told him not to so that the boys boat would stay "lucky." Once again the boy was heart broken.
             The next day Santiago went out to sea a little further than anyone usually ever goes and that is where he hooked his fish. He got the fish hooked and hung on. The fish towed him farther and farther out to sea at a steady pace. At one point there was a bird that came and balanced on the fishing line. Then the fish gave the old man a jolt and sent him flying to the ground. At that point the tired bird took off. S
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