The whaling ship The Dolly arrives at the Marquesas Islands in the South Pacific after sailing for six months without seeing land. The narrator, later known as Tommo, decides to leave the ship with Toby after growing weary of the hardships and abuse they suffered on board. Until they can board a better boat, the two guys want to remain hidden on the island of Nukuheva while subsisting on tropical fruits.Due to his injured leg, Kory-Kory feeds Tommo by hand, takes him around, and gives him a morning bath in the nearby stream. Toby immediately claims that the first time they are given meat, it is a roast human baby, and refuses to eat it. But as time passes, Tommo learns to relax and genuinely appreciate Typees life.He observes a portion of a partially eaten body after a battle with the Happars and concludes that the Typees consumed the dead Happars. Then, he keeps thinking about running away.Tommo runs away from a Nukuheva native in Typee who is attempting to buy his freedom for an Australian captain of a whaling ship.