1872年10月1日，一个晴朗的星期二，在伦敦的一家俱乐部内，身家数万的单身绅士福格（皮尔斯·布鲁斯南 Pierce Brosnan 饰）与众人打了个赌，说他能在80天内环游世界，赌注是三万英镑。信心十足的福格第二天就带上随从巴斯帕图（艾瑞克·爱都 Eric Idle 饰）匆匆出发了，并约定在80天后，也就是9月21号返回到俱乐部。然而这一路却并非一马平川，大饱眼福的同时种种意外也接踵而至，先是在瑞士被密探盯上，仓促逃到印度后又遇上准备自尽的公主奥达（朱莉娅·尼克森 Julia Nickson 饰），并将其救下，三人一同上路。然而当他们一路奔波来到美国，准备搭乘轮船回伦敦时，不料却来晚了一步，轮船已经开走。眼看离约定期限还有几天时间，而中间还隔着辽阔的大西洋，三人将如何赢下这看似不可能的赌局？
本片改编自法国作家儒勒·加布里埃尔·凡尔纳（Jules Gabriel Verne）1873年的经典冒险小说。

Ian Struan Dunross is chairman of Struan & Company, the oldest and largest of the British-East Asia trading companies. To the Chinese, that also makes him "Tai-Pan" ("supreme leader") of the "Noble House". Unfortunately, with his power, he inherits ancient promises, dark secrets, and deep financial problems on a small island full of people, who want to see Struan fall, so they can become the Noble House. Dunross' worst enemy is the vicious Quillan Gornt, a lesser tai-pan, and he's doing everything in his power to bring the Noble House to ruin. Drawn into the fight between Gornt and Dunross, is an upstart American billionaire, who tries to gain a foothold on the Hong Kong market, and has made a deal to steal something that will give him power, even over the Noble House. Unfortunately, that something has fallen into the hands of a powerful Chinese overlord. "Everybody was watching (and cheating on) everybody." Who will succeed in the end?