《老人與海》故事的背景是在二十世紀中葉的古巴。主人公是一位名叫圣地亞哥的老漁夫，配角是一個叫馬諾林的小孩。風燭殘年的老漁夫一連八十四天都沒有釣到一條魚，但他仍不肯認輸，而是充滿著奮斗的精神，終于在第八十五天釣到一條身長十八尺，體重一千五百磅的大馬林魚。大魚拖著船往海里走，老人依然死拉著不放，即使沒有水，沒有食物，沒有武器，沒有助手，左手抽筋，他也絲毫不灰心。經過兩天兩夜之后，他終于殺死大魚，把它拴在船邊。但許多鯊魚立刻前來搶奪他的戰利品。他一一地殺死它們，到最后只剩下一支折斷的舵柄作為武器。結果，大魚仍難逃被吃光的命運，最終，老人筋疲力盡地拖回一副魚骨頭。他回到家躺在床上，只好從夢中去尋回那往日美好的歲月，以忘卻殘酷的現實。

　　英文版：

　　The background of the story of the old man and the sea is in the middle of the twentieth Century. The hero is an old fisherman named Santiago, supporting role is a child called Ma Nuolin. An ailing old fisherman 84 days in a row are not caught a fish, but he still refused to admit defeat, but full of fighting spirit, finally in the 85th day fishing to a height of 18 feet, one thousand five hundred pound marlin. The big fish was dragging the boat into the sea, and the old man still had to die, even though he had no water, no food, no arms, no arms, no assistants, and left hand cramps. He did not lose heart. After two days and two nights, he finally killed the big fish, tied it to the boat. But many sharks come to snatch his loot at once. He killed one one of them, in the end only a broken tiller as a weapon. The big fish, still can not escape the fate of being eaten, eventually, be tired out towed back to an old man fish bones. He returned home in bed, but from a dream to find the good old days, to forget the harsh reality.