The film is based on the novel of the same name by Jack London, in a Naples-set background, and follows an illiterate sailor's journey to establish himself as a writer in post-war Italy.

[6] After saving Arturo, a young scion of the industrial middle class, from a beating, the sailor Martin Eden is invited to the boy’s family home.

The cultured and refined young woman becomes not only the object of Martin’s affections but also a symbol of the social status he aspires to achieve.

At the cost of enormous efforts and overcoming the obstacles represented by his humble origin, Martin pursues the dream of becoming a writer and—under the influence of the elderly intellectual Russ Brissenden—becomes involved in socialist circles, bringing him into conflict with Elena and her bourgeois world.

According to the website's critical consensus: "Martin Eden uses one man's quest for fulfillment as fuel for an ambitious—and often rewarding—look at a complex array of social and personal themes.