The book begins on a ship, when a sailor sees a sled chasing a huge figure. Then everything disappears. After two hours, the sailors found a man on the ice. Carefully, they carried him to the boat. His name was Victor Frankenstein and he began to write his story and read it to Captain Walton at night. He begins by telling about his family and his childhood. He also says that he studied a lot at school, and that he became interested in the secrets of life and electricity.

Victor's mother dies and he has to leave his family and go to university. He studied there and after two years he was already a great scientist. He discovered the secret of life and worked very hard, which led to him being given a laboratory. He believed that electricity from lightning could give life to things that were dead, and he built a very tall pole above the laboratory. He spent a year creating the body and when he had it done, lightning struck the pole and the monster came to life. Victor ran away. Then he met a childhood friend and told him he was coming to university. They both went to the apartment where they had left the monster and it was no longer there. He decided to go visit his family, when they received a letter from his father.

In his father's letter, he explained that his brother had been murdered, and that he had finger marks on his neck. Victor saw the creature he had created and she fled into the mountains and he followed her. Then he learned that he had murdered his brother. The cops thought Justine was the killer, even though the Frankenstein family knew she wasn't, and the judge declared the death penalty. Victor found the monster and told him he was going to kill him since he had killed two people he loved. The monster justified himself by saying that he had done it because he had not given him love, and asked him to listen to his story.

In these three chapters the monster tells his whole story from when he escaped, until after he killed Justine and Victor's brother. You can see how bad the monster has been this time, since no one loved him. It also reflects the wickedness of the people, since the monster tried to help them and they treated him fatally.

Victor empathized with the monster and said he would make him a monster wife so he wouldn't be alone and in return the monster wouldn't kill anyone else. So Victor went to Edinburgh and set up his laboratory on an island. Victor began building the monster woman. Then, he thought that maybe he wouldn't keep the promise and that maybe the new monster would be just as bad, so he destroyed it. The monster told her that he would be at her wedding day. When he goes to the beach, he is told that the judge is waiting for him to ask him some questions about the signing last night.

The person they had killed was his friend Henry Clerval and he had the same marks on his neck as Victor's brother. Victor became very ill and his father went to visit him. When they returned home, he became engaged to Elizabeth. The wedding day was getting closer and closer and he was getting more and more excited.The wedding went well and at night they went to celebrate their honeymoon in a hotel. Victor told Elizabeth to go to bed and he went to make sure the monster wasn't around the hotel. Then, he heard some screams from Elizabeth's room and he ran there. She was dead and had the mark of the monster's fingers on her neck. They called the police. Victor returned home to make sure his father was safe, but when he found out what had happened he died of grief. Victor decided to find the monster and kill it.

Victor chases the monster through the frozen lands of the north and thanks to the help of the dogs and the sled, they almost catch him, but it was not possible. Then he explains how he ended up on the piece of ice at the start and ends by saying goodbye. To Captain Walton, he explains that Victor Frankeinstein died and also, that the monster who was going to see his corpse was found and told him that he would kill himself.