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It Begins
The novel begins in Missouri with thirteen year old Huck Finn explaining how he and Tom Sawyer were rewarded $6000 a piece for finding where robbers hid the money in a cave in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Judge Thatcher puts the reward money in a bank at an interest for them and they each earn 1 dollar in interest per day all year round. Custody of Huck is awarded to old Widow Douglas. -
Going to live with Widow Douglas
Huck goes to live with Widow Douglas and her sister, Miss Watson. They try to "sivilize" him by teaching him manners, religion, and academics. -
Joining Tom Sawyer's Band of Robbers
Huck doesn't like Widow Douglas' attempts to "sivilize" him and runs away. Tom Sawyer finds him and tells him that he can join his band of robbers if he would go back to the widow's and "be respectable," so Huck goes back. -
Resigning
Huck is bored with Tom Sawyer's band of robbers and resigns. -
School
Huck starts school. He hates it at first, but gets used to it and doesn't mind going after several months. He also starts getting used to the comforts of living at Widow Douglas'. -
Footprints in the snow
Huck sees footprints in the snow and realizes they are his father's, who was supposed to have drowned. He realizes that his father will come after him to get Huck's money and in a panic, gives his reward money and the interest earned to Judge Thatcher for the “consideration” of $1.00. -
Father
Huck's abusive and alcoholic father, Pap, shows up and wants Huck's $6000 reward money. He is given custody of Huck by a new judge who thinks a son should be with his father. The new judge thinks he can reform Pap and make him civilized, but he fails miserably. -
Pap in jail
Pap is thrown in jail off and on for getting drunk and causing trouble, so Huck stayed at Widow Douglas' and continues going to school, which Pap resents. -
Caught
After Widow Douglas tells Pap to stop hanging around her place or she would cause him trouble, he threatens that he will show who is Huck Finn's boss. He catches Huck one day and took him to a log hut in Illinois, where he is locked in anytime Pap isn't with him. -
The Hut
Huck and Pap have been living in the hut for a couple of months and survive by hunting and fishing. Huck likes living an uncivilized life, but doesn't like the abuse from Pap and plans his escape. -
The Escape
Huck fakes his own death and escapes to Jackson’s Island where he runs across Jim, Ms. Watson’s escaped slave. As he gets to know Jim better, they become friends and Huck begins to change how he feels about slavery. -
The Raft
Huck and Jim wait out a big storm in a cave and they find a raft that they keep. -
Father dies
Jim finds Huck’s father’s corpse in an abandoned house drifting down the river, but doesn’t tell Huck who it was. -
Snake
Huck plays a joke on Jim with a dead rattlesnake, but Jim is bitten by its mate . He gets very sick, but recovers. -
Manhunt
Huck dresses as a girl to go into town to find out the latest news where he learns that there is a $300 reward and a manhunt for Jim with plans to hunt for him that night on Jackson's Island. He goes back and tells Jim and they load up the raft and leave the island to head to Cairo, Illinois. -
Separated
Huck and Jim are separated after having their raft swamped by a steam boat. Huck is taken in by the Grangerford family, who are locked in a blood feud with the neighboring Shepardson family. After a Grangerford and Shepardson elope together, the two families fight a bloody battle in which all males on both sides are killed. After the battle Huck and Jim are reunited and flee down the Mississippi river. -
The Conmen
Two conmen claiming to be European royalty come aboard the raft. The conmen then convince Huck and Jim to help them run a “Shakespearean Play” (really just a crude mishmash of various plays by various writers) in order to swindle people from the towns that they pass through and finance later scams. -
Scam
The conmen find out that a recently deceased man in the town that they’re attempting to scam was extremely wealthy, with his only surviving family being several daughters who live on his estate and two brothers who live far away and can’t interfere with the con. -
Huck Helps
As the con progresses, Huck comes to like the daughters and is unable to betray them for their money. As a result, he steals back the money that was already stolen by the conmen, hides it in the dead man’s coffin before it’s buried, and writes a note explaining what was really going on. -
Jim is turned in
Jim is turned in by one of the conmen to a family in the town that they’re trying to scam for a portion of the $800 bounty on him. When Huck goes to the house of the family holding Jim, he is mistaken for Tom Sawyer and finds out that the family are Tom's aunt and uncle. -
Tarred and feathered
Several days after Huck arrives, he sneaks back into the nearby town where he sees the two conmen being tarred and feathered, then ridden out of town on rails. Shortly after, the real Tom shows and agrees to help free Jim as long as they follow Tom’s crazy plan. -
Jim is freed
Tom’s overly complicated plan succeeds and Jim is broken out, though Tom is shot and Jim is recaptured after Huck gets a doctor for Tom. After Tom gets well, he reveals that Jim has actually been free for some time, since Miss Watson died and freed him in her will. Jim tells Huck that his father has been dead for some time and that he's free to go back to St. Petersburg. -
Heading West
Even though Tom's aunt wants to adopt Huck and civilize him, he plans to go west to Indian territory and carry on his adventures.
