The novella tells the tale of the young Arthur Gordon Pym, who stows away aboard a whaling ship called the Grampus. Various adventures and misadventures befall Pym, including ship-wreck, mutiny and cannibalism, before he is saved by the crew of the Jane Guy. Aboard this vessel, Pym and a sailor named Dirk Peters continue their adventures further south. They encounter hostile natives and are forced to make their escape, as what started out as a more conventional story becomes something rather more unusual.