Interstellar (2014)

Plot summary of Interstellar (2014)

Late in the 21st century, Earth’s food supply is running out. Crops are going extinct, and dust storms occur with alarming frequency. The government has done away with the military, and schools use standardized testing to determine whether a child will go down one of two paths: to college or to work as farmers to fight food scarcity.

Former pilot Cooper is one of many of these farmers, but he still has nightmares about his time as a pilot—especially the day he almost crashed his jet. His wife died of a brain cyst that wasn’t found because MRI machines are no longer made, so now he has to take care of his children, Murph and Tom, with the help of their maternal grandfather, Donald.

Lately, Murph has been visited by what she calls a “ghost” in her bedroom. Books have been falling off her shelf, and she believes the ghost is speaking to her. However, Cooper tells her that ghosts aren’t real and that she must use science to figure out what is actually happening. From then on, Murph writes down the position of the books that fall to figure out if it’s Morse code.

One morning, when Cooper is taking the kids to school, they have to stop the truck because they get a flat tire. While they work on changing it, they’re shocked to suddenly see a drone flying above them. Desperate to follow it, Cooper pushes the family back into the truck and drives with the tire still flat. They leave the road and cross the harvest field, where Cooper gives Tom the wheel so he can take out his computer and try to hack the drone.

After a long chase, Tom is forced to stop the truck when they reach a high cliff edge, but fortunately, Cooper has managed to gain control of the drone and makes it come back. Then they proceed to pull the pieces apart so they can use them for repairs at home.

One day, the family is enjoying a baseball game when, suddenly, sirens start wailing, and the public notices a huge sandstorm approaching. Everyone puts on their masks and goggles and drives through the sand, doing their best not to run over the running citizens everywhere. When they make it home, they rush to close the window to Murph’s room, and Cooper is shocked to notice the sand left behind some kind of code on the floor.

Cooper spends many hours figuring it out and realizes it isn’t a ghost—it’s a strange gravitational anomaly. It’s not Morse code either; it’s binary. Cooper translates it to reveal a set of coordinates. Immediately, Cooper takes his truck to visit those coordinates and tells Murph she can’t come, but she sneaks into the vehicle without him noticing.

When night falls, they make it to an unknown area, and Cooper cuts down the gate blocking them. A flashlight suddenly turns on, and a voice threatens Cooper before tasing him. Seconds later, Cooper wakes up inside the building and is interrogated by TARS, a tactical robot. Then, Doctor Amelia enters the room, and Cooper recognizes her as the daughter of the famous scientist.

Amelia leads Cooper to a conference room where her father, Professor Brand, and Murph are hanging out with some important men. After Cooper explains how they found the place, the group reveals they’re from NASA and opens a panel to show they’re building a real rocket ship.

As he shows Cooper around the labs, Brand explains that he knows society doesn’t support funding for space exploration anymore because of the famine; however, they’ve changed their work to find a solution to the food shortage. The blight disease kills the crops and consumes the oxygen on Earth, so Brand predicts that Murph’s generation will be the last to survive. NASA doesn’t plan to save the world—they want to leave it.

Then Brand introduces Cooper to Project Endurance, whose mission is to find a habitable planet. Brand wants Cooper to be his pilot, and when Cooper hesitates because of his family, Brand convinces him by pointing out that this is the only way to save them.

Next, Cooper gets briefed about the details of the mission. NASA has discovered a wormhole near Saturn that leads to another galaxy and thinks that some aliens placed the wormhole there to help humans. Ten years ago, NASA sent twelve astronauts to twelve planets, but only three of them have sent messages back.

The new mission has two plans. Plan A is to use the entire facility as a spacecraft that will harness gravitational forces to propel itself—and the surviving humans—into space, although the process is still theoretical. Cooper would handle Plan B, which would send thousands of fertilized eggs to start a colony on the new planet. Brand promises that Plan A will be operational by the time Cooper returns.

When Cooper returns home, Murph is upset to hear her father is leaving. Donald confronts Cooper about such a dangerous decision, but Cooper is sure that the mission is humankind’s final hope. The next morning, Cooper talks to Murph, saying that he’s only doing this for her and Tom.

Murph is still angry and tries to change his mind, showing him that she deciphered the ghost’s message and that it says “stay.” Cooper doesn’t listen and, as a goodbye gift, gives her a watch, telling her that time in space is slower than on Earth and that they may be the same age when he returns. Sadly, Murph throws it away in anger.

Afterward, he says goodbye to the rest of the family and drives away, so by the time Murph finally comes out, it’s too late. Moments later, the rocket launches, and Cooper leaves Earth with a crew formed by TARS, Amelia, Doyle, and Romilly.

The trip isn’t very long, and sometime later they make it safely to the Endurance space station, where they dock the spacecraft as carefully as possible. The crew enters the station and begins powering everything up as they meet CASE, another robot. Soon, the boosters are working, and the station begins spinning to fly them away.

Now the crew starts their two-year journey to Saturn, so they’ll be entering cryosleep. While getting ready, Amelia shares stories about the other three astronauts they may meet later: Mann, Miller, and Edmunds. Mann, in particular, is known for being an inspiration for others to join. Later, Cooper asks TARS if Amelia has a relationship with Doctor Edmunds, but TARS is programmed not to disclose sensitive information.

Before going to sleep, Cooper sends a video message back to Earth, but when Brand takes it to the family, Murph isn’t interested. Brand talks to Donald and offers to take Murph under his wing.

Two years pass, and when Cooper wakes up, the first thing he does is watch the video message his family sent back. It only takes the crew a few hours to find the wormhole, and they brace themselves to cross it, ready to reach a completely different galaxy. The spacecraft shakes during the whole trip because of the extreme speed, and Amelia swears she sees a distortion that looks like an arm. She assumes it’s one of the aliens that put the wormhole there and reaches back, saying it’s the first handshake. Just a few moments later, the spacecraft stabilizes and flies calmly again.

They discover three planets are orbiting a black hole known as Gargantua—the same three the previous astronauts visited. An hour on one of these planets equals seven years on Earth, and soon an argument ensues. Doyle wants to proceed with Plan B and let everyone on Earth die, so Cooper proposes a middle ground: the spacecraft will travel to the opposite side of Gargantua so that their time won’t be affected as much when they land.

The crew agrees to this, and CASE comes along on the expedition ship while Romilly stays in the station waiting for their return. As the ship approaches the planet, it begins experiencing heavy turbulence. Cooper uses all his pilot skills to guide the ship carefully, pulling off a special maneuver to land safely on the vast surface of the water.

Cooper stays on the ship while Doyle and Amelia go exploring with CASE, discovering that the planet has 110% of Earth’s gravity. As they walk around, CASE finds debris from Doctor Miller’s beacon, so they try to find the rest of the wreckage, thinking they are walking toward the mountains. However, Cooper realizes that the mountains are actually giant waves—and one is coming after them.

Amelia ignores it because she wants to find Miller’s data, but when she does, she falls while trying to grab it. CASE transforms into a wheel and saves her, bringing her back to the ship. Doyle tries to rush back, too, but just as he’s about to enter, the waves carry him away before flooding the interior of the ship.

The crew gets tossed around inside as waves shake the ship violently. Eventually, the wave stops, and although the ship floats calmly, it is heavily damaged. A furious Cooper snaps at Amelia for wasting their time; now they’ve lost Doyle and a whole decade back on Earth.

Amelia says that Doctor Miller probably landed on the planet only hours ago due to the time difference, explaining why the wreckage was somewhat intact. At that moment, another giant wave appears and is about to hit them again. Cooper immediately returns to the controls and concentrates on activating the ship, expertly flying around the wave to get them safely off the planet.

When they return to the station, they discover that twenty-three years have passed for Romilly. He’s learned all he can from studying the black hole, but he couldn’t send his research to Earth.

A sad and desperate Cooper rushes to the messages the station received and watches twenty-three years of videos of his son growing up and forming his own family. Tom is now an adult, and he explains that Donald died, so they buried him next to their mom. He also says Murph has grown distant and that he’s accepted Cooper isn’t coming back, so this is his last message.

Afterward, there’s a video from adult Murph, who insults her dad for leaving and points out they’re now the same age. Back on Earth, Murph hangs up and goes back to work. It turns out Murph is now working with NASA, too, and she wants to finish Brand’s theory to help save the world.

After staring at the board for a while, she realizes they’ve been looking at the equation all wrong. Brand knows this, but doesn’t explain why he won’t change it.

On the Endurance, the crew discusses which planet to visit next. Amelia wants to go to Edmunds’ planet, whose signal stopped transmitting some time ago, but Cooper thinks Mann’s planet is a better choice because it’s still active. Before Romilly can vote, Cooper tells him about Amelia’s bias because she’s in a relationship with Edmunds. Instead of denying it, Amelia says that the idea of their love is more than enough reason to choose Edmunds. Nobody is moved by her speech, and Mann’s planet wins the vote.

Now Amelia is angry with Cooper, saying that if Mann’s planet isn’t suitable, they’ll have to either return or continue with Plan B on Edmunds’ planet, which would sacrifice the lives of billions on Earth.

Back on Earth, Murph rushes to the hospital to visit Brand, who is dying. She promises she’ll carry on with his work, but Brand uses his last breath to make a confession: Project Endurance was never meant to return, and the theory for Plan A isn’t achievable.

Before Murph can ask for more, Brand dies, and Murph has to be the one to send a message to Amelia. In the video, Murph accuses Amelia of knowing about her father’s lies.

Sometime later, the spacecraft safely lands on the next planet, where they see snowy mountains and a large base. They go inside and find a cryosleep pod, so they open it to wake up Doctor Mann. The poor doctor cries at the sight of another person because he had lost all hope, and his resources were almost gone.

Once he’s calmed down, Mann shows the crew around the planet. They are currently at a peak where there is no breathable air, but the planet also has a lower surface where life might be possible.

The discussion of how to carry on their plan is interrupted by TARS, who has a message for Amelia. She plays the video for everyone to hear, and Murph reveals all the lies, but Amelia swears she didn’t know anything. However, Mann does know about it. He says that Brand solved the equation even before the astronauts left, but simply proving the theory isn’t enough. They need information on what’s inside the black hole to put it into practical use—but the laws of nature don’t allow that.

Mann supports Brand’s actions, saying that sacrificing the lives of the billions on Earth is necessary to save the human race. Cooper refuses to accept this and plans to return to Earth.

Back on Earth, Murph tells the truth to her colleague and boyfriend, Getty, who thinks they should inform the public. Murph refuses because she still hasn’t given up on Plan A, believing that the “ghost” from her childhood told her to work on it.

At the station, Cooper gets ready to return, and Romilly offers an idea: they could throw TARS into the black hole so he can collect information about what’s inside. TARS gladly accepts the mission. Afterward, Mann prepares to construct the laboratory and habitat modules brought by the Endurance, and Cooper goes with him to scout potential areas.

While the duo walks around, Mann begins a strange conversation about survival instincts. When they reach the edge of a cliff, Mann removes Cooper’s transmission device and pushes him off. Cooper manages to hold onto some rocks, and when Mann climbs down to kick him, Cooper grabs him and pulls him down as well.

Once they reach the ground, Mann explains he can’t let Cooper leave with the ship and confesses he faked the data so someone would come to rescue him. In truth, the planet isn’t habitable.

Back on Earth, Murph visits her old room to decipher the ghost’s messages while Getty checks on Tom’s family, who are very sick. Getty scolds Tom for not leaving their home like everyone else is doing, and Tom punches him for it. When Murph wonders if Tom is waiting for his child to die, Tom kicks them out.

On their way out, Murph drives into the cornfields and douses the crops with fuel before setting them on fire. Tom quickly sees the flames and rushes to deal with them, giving Getty the chance to rescue the family and Murph the chance to return to her room.

Meanwhile, on the planet, Cooper and Mann get into a fight. When Cooper overpowers him, Mann headbutts Cooper’s helmet, cracking it and exposing him to the toxic air. While Mann escapes, Cooper crawls to his communicator and asks Amelia for help. CASE and Amelia immediately fly back to rescue him, arriving just before Cooper suffocates.

As Cooper tells Amelia the truth, Romilly begins modifying TARS. However, when he looks at the data in Mann’s robot, he discovers the truth as well. At that moment, Amelia contacts him through the radio—but suddenly, an explosion rips through the base.

When Amelia and Cooper return, they find only wreckage and TARS rushing out of the flames. They pick up the robot and learn that Romilly is dead, while Mann has taken his own ship back to the station.

Cooper tries to contact Mann and make him see reason, but Mann ignores them. CASE informs the crew that the auto-docking procedure on board the station is disabled, making it almost impossible for Mann to board the Endurance successfully.

Cooper attempts to warn Mann, but this time, Mann turns off communications completely and tries to dock manually. After intense hovering and violent shaking, the ship touches the hatch, yet Mann fails to align it properly. Ignoring the blaring alarms, he opens the hatch anyway. The airlock explodes, destroying part of the station and pushing it away.

The crew watches in horror as debris flies toward them. Cooper immediately maneuvers through the wreckage and deliberately approaches the spinning station, declaring he will dock at extreme speed. CASE says it’s impossible, but Cooper insists it’s necessary. He performs a daring maneuver, positioning the ship beneath the docking port just before the Endurance leaves the planet’s stratosphere.

TARS opens the hatch, and Cooper carefully guides the ship, using his extraordinary piloting skills to dock with perfect precision. The ship stabilizes the station’s rotation and pushes it out of the stratosphere.

Their relief is short-lived. CASE announces they are heading toward Gargantua, and the ship is severely damaged. A second generator keeps the systems running, but navigation is destroyed—they cannot return to Earth. Their only option is to reach Edmunds’ planet, so Cooper plans to use Gargantua as a giant slingshot to propel them there.

To do this, they must shed as much weight as possible, including TARS. Amelia doesn’t like the idea, but TARS accepts it, since his only objective is to save humankind. Soon, the Endurance enters Gargantua’s orbit, its blinding light shocking the crew.

The station reaches maximum velocity, engines straining at full power. As the ship begins moving toward escape, TARS says his final goodbye and detaches. Then, CASE announces that Cooper’s section must detach as well. Amelia is stunned, but Cooper explains there aren’t enough resources for both of them. This is his way of giving humanity one last chance.

Amelia cries as she watches Cooper sacrifice himself, his module plunging into the black hole. Darkness surrounds his ship for a few moments until flashes of light appear, like droplets of rain. The ship shakes violently, its exterior burning under immense gravitational pressure, and Cooper loses consciousness.

The computer jolts him awake, reminding him to eject. Cooper is released from the ship and floats through darkness, passing through a cold corridor of flashing lights before landing in what seems like an endless chamber.

He grabs the walls to stop his fall and realizes they are made of bookshelves. On the other side, he sees a familiar room. He bangs on the shelves, knocking books down—and glimpses young Murph.

Cooper desperately tries to speak to her, but she cannot hear him. Remembering the message she once decoded, he spells “stay,” begging her not to leave the room until she understands. Watching his past self say goodbye to young Murph, Cooper breaks down, realizing his departure felt like a mistake.

In the present, older Murph pulls books from the shelves and finally understands the “ghost” had been her father all along. Now she waits for another message.

At that moment, TARS contacts Cooper. The robot survived and gathered the quantum data. He explains that this is a higher-dimensional space created by the beings who placed the wormhole—here, time is a physical dimension.

Cooper realizes gravity can move through time, and this corridor connects to every moment in Murph’s life. In the future, humans built this structure and guided him here so Murph could save the world. No one else could navigate it—only Cooper, driven by his love for Murph.

Determined to finish the mission, Cooper asks TARS for NASA’s coordinates in binary and sends them to his past self through the dust. Then he turns to the present and uses the watch he gave Murph to transmit the quantum data in Morse code. Now Plan A can finally work.

Murph notices the second hand ticking in Morse code. Realizing her father is alive, she rushes outside and embraces Tom, stopping another fight between him and Getty.

She returns to Brand’s office and, with the help of the watch, finally solves the equation. She rebuilds it from scratch and announces to everyone at the base that their future has been saved.

Back in the collapsing dimension, TARS informs Cooper that their plan worked. The space begins to fold in on itself, and a bright light engulfs him. As he drifts away, he sees Amelia reaching out before everything fades.

Sometime later, Cooper wakes up in a hospital room. A doctor informs him he is 124 years old. Humanity has survived and now lives on Cooper Station near Saturn. He assumes the station was named after him—but it was named after his daughter.

Once he recovers, Cooper tours the colony and finds that his old home has been recreated as a museum honoring Murph’s life. A damaged TARS is there, and Cooper spends the day repairing it.

A few days later, Cooper is called to the hospital, where he is finally reunited with his daughter. Murph is elderly and has been in cryosleep, waiting for her father’s return. Surrounded by her descendants, she says she has enough family to keep her company. No parent, she insists, should watch their child die.

Murph urges Cooper to leave again and find Amelia. Amelia and CASE successfully reached the third planet. Edmunds is dead, but the world is habitable, and Amelia has established a base to begin raising the thousands of fertilized embryos intended for Plan B. Soon after, Cooper steals a shuttle to go find her.

Full Video Recap of Interstellar (2014)