John Clayton and his wife are abandoned on the African coast, where their infant son survives their deaths only because Kala, an ape who has lost her own baby, adopts him and raises him among her tribe under the name Tarzan, meaning “White-Skin.” Growing up with extraordinary intelligence and physical ability, Tarzan discovers his parents’ cabin, teaches himself to read from books, learns to use knives and other human tools, and eventually defeats Kerchak to become king of the apes, even as he increasingly recognizes that he is fundamentally different from those who raised him. Returning to the coast in search of others like himself, he discovers Jane Porter, Clayton, and their companions occupying the cabin and becomes fascinated above all by Jane, bringing his jungle upbringing into direct contact with human society for the first time.
