An aircraft carrying 24 young military school cadets returning home crash lands into the sea near a remote, uninhabited, jungle island in the Pacific Ocean. Among the survivors is the pilot, Captain Benson, the only other survivor, who is seriously injured and delirious. During the night, Simon finds a river and notifies the other boys, to which they all drink out of it and explore the island afterwards. Meanwhile, on the beach, an overweight cadet, whose real name is never revealed, nicknamed “Piggy”, finds a conch seashell and takes it to the grouped cadets, who adopt it to signal the right to speak and be heard by the group.