Chuck Noland is a FedEx systems engineer whose personal and professional life are ruled by the clock. He has a girlfriend, Kelly, with whom he is deeply in love with and family he hardly sees. When work intrudes on Christmas Eve, Chuck has a quick gift exchange in the car and kisses Kelly goodbye. He boards a delivery plane going overseas which gets caught in a horrendous storm and crashes onto the shores of a deserted tropical island in the Pacific. First, frustration gets to him and then he realizes how little his chances are to ever get back to civilisation. After four long years, Chuck has learned very well how to survive on his own. He even has a way of predicting the weather with a self-made calendar. When Chuck finally sees his chance, he rafts out onto the ocean and fortunately is spotted. After a bittersweet welcome-back reception, Chuck finds Kelly has married another man. For four years, it was survival. Now Chuck is compelled to live.