The movie opens with the USS Kelvin, which has encountered a strange space anomaly - one that looks like a lightning storm, in space. The Kelvin is in contact with Starfleet command, sending them information on the anomaly, as the scientific readings they are recording are quite abnormal. A giant, alien ship then begins to emerge from the anomaly, and starts to fire on the Kelvin - the Kelvin is ill-equipped to retaliate against the superior technology of this alien ship, and is summarily hailed by the aliens. They are Romulans, heavily tattooed and shaven bald. They request that the captain of the Kelvin flies by shuttlecraft to the Romulan ship for negotiations. The captain agrees and places George Kirk in command of the ship - instructing him to place the starship on autopilot and perform a complete evacuation should anything bad happen. The captain flies over to the Romulan ship, where the Romulans, led by a man named Nero, ask him the whereabouts of Ambassador Spock, and the location of a separate alien ship - both of which they provide images of for the captain's identification. The captain has no idea what the Romulans are talking about, at which point they ask him the date. When he answers, they kill him. The crew has been monitoring the captain's vitals from the bridge, and are alerted as soon as he is killed. George Kirk orders the evacuation, but there is a malfunction with the ship's auto-pilot command. He will need to stay onboard to man the ship and the defensive systems in order for the evacuation shuttles to get away safely. As the crewmembers are heading to their shuttles, George makes certain that his pregnant wife is safely aboard one of the medical shuttles, and orders it to launch without him. He maintains contact with her as she gives birth, safely away from the starship, and over the comlink the two name the newborn baby boy James, after her father (forgoing giving him the first name Tiberious, after George's father). Shortly afterwards, the Kelvin collides into the alien ship, killing George Kirk and doing enough damage that the evacuation shuttles are able to get away.

From this point, we move to the plains of Iowa, where a young blonde boy is speeding down a long stretch of highway in a classic car. There is no-one else on the road with him, and he can barely see over the steering wheel. A male voice calls him on the car's cell phone, and demands that the boy return the car without a single scratch, or there will be hell to pay. As long as the boy lives under his roof, the voice continues, he will live by the voice's rules. The boy only laughs in regards to this directive, hanging up the phone as he turns up the music on the radio, and opens the car's convertible top, to send the top flying off at the high speed at which he is going. Now speeding down the road with the car's top off, he passes by a school-mate who is walking along the side of the road, and we learn he is also now being followed by a hover-bike. The hover-bike quickly matches speed with the classic car, and demands that the boy pull over to the side of the road. Instead of complying, the boy quickly turns off a side road, one that is primarily dirt and gravel. This side road leads to a giant chasm, where apparently strip mining has been taking place. With no time to properly stop the car, the boy pulls the emergency brake, swerves the car in as hard a turn as he can, and leaps out of the car as the vehicle plummets into the deep chasm. The boy barely manages to clutch onto the edge of the chasm, and pulls himself up to safety as the crash of the car is heard in the background, rising up to face the police-officer and the hover bike that is now facing him. Defiantly, the boy asks, "Is there a problem officer?" The officer answers in a clipped tone, "What is your name?" and we learn from the boy's answer that, "My name is James Tiberious Kirk."


Switch to planet Vulcan. Here we are introduced to the Vulcan way of life, as evidenced by the red rocky planet, the alien architecture, and the manner of Vulcan schools and teaching, where Vulcan children are sequestered in individual learning pods where they apparently answer various questions all day long. At the end of this particular day's session, one young Vulcan boy is accosted by three older Vulcan boys, who begin to 'bully' the boy, who we learn is Spock, as they have apparently done many times before. This time, however, one of the older boys not only refers to Spock's dad as a traitor, but call's Spock's mom a 'human whore'. Young Spock flies off the handle, and begins to beat the tar out of the older bully. The scene then cuts to Spock, bloodied from the fight, talking with his father and receiving the equivalent of Vulcan fatherly advice as to his place in the world and his unique status of being both Human and Vulcan. Spock takes these cryptic words to heart, and grows up to become a proper Vulcan, graduating from his school with the highest marks, and gaining acceptance into the esteemed Vulcan Academy of Sciences. After a touching scene with his mother, who tells him that she will always be proud of him, no matter what he does or what path he chooses, he ultimately rejects the Vulcan Academy in favor of a career in Starfleet. This pisses off the Vulcan High Command, but Spock doesn't really seem to care about it much - perhaps it's because they called his human heritage a 'disadvantage', and he wants to show them up.

Back to Iowa - in the shadow of the massive shipyards on the plains of Iowa, there is an active bar/restaurant which caters to both aspiring Starfleet Cadets as well as local 'townies'. We are introduced to Uhura, who comes into the bar ordering a long list of drinks apparently for the group that she is with. We find that James Kirk (Chris Pine), now grown up as well, is also at the bar, and begins to hit on Uhura, asking for her name. Only giving him her last name, Uhura is not impressed by Kirk's advances, but any further interaction between the two is interrupted by the arrival of four beefy cadets who tell Kirk to buzz off. Instead, Kirk starts a fight with them, and initially seems to be doing well, before he basically gets pasted and is only saved by the timely arrival of Captain Pike. Pike puts the cadets in line, and after the bar has been cleared out and Kirk has come to, Pike has (or attempts to have) a heart to heart with Kirk, as he has now learned that this is the son of George Kirk, a man on whom Pike has apparently written an entire dissertation. Pike implores Kirk to use his many talents and skills in the service of the Federation, trying various tactics, before ultimately charging him with the challenge that, "Your father was the captain of a Starship for 18 minutes. He saved the lives of 800 people, including your mother, and you. I dare you to do better." Kirk initially seems unimpressed, but after Pike leaves, he thoughtfully eyes a small salt shaker in the shape of a starship...


The next day, flights are leaving for Starfleet Academy, and Kirk is there despite every indication that he would not come. He boards the shuttle, noting the presence of not only the beefy cadets that beat him up, but Uhura as well, before we are introduced to Dr. Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban), who apparently had wanted to stay in the bathroom for the entire shuttle trip, as there were no windows there. Instead, the flight crew has him sit next to Kirk. We learn that McCoy has serious issues about flying about in space, but that Starfleet is the only option left to him as his ex-wife got 'the whole damn planet' in the divorce, and the only thing he has to his name are his own bones. Thus, a nickname, and a friendship, are born.

Three years later, graduation from Starfleet Academy is nigh. Bones and Kirk are good friends, and Kirk asks for McCoy's presence at his third attempt at the Kobayashi Maru test, which as McCoy points out, is unbeatable and no-one ever takes it a second time, let alone a third. Kirk, however, seems overly confident about the issue, before claiming he needs to do some additional studying that evening. That studying, however, involves a romantic interlude with a green-skinned girl who happens to be Uhura's room-mate. While extricating himself from a compromising position, Kirk still has not learned Uhura's first name, but is made aware of a distress call that Uhura overhead that evening coming from a Klingon outpost.

The following day, Kirk takes the Kobayashi Maru test again, though this time he has hacked the computer systems so that he is able to successfully complete the scenario given to him, the rescue of a Starfleet Vessel in opposition of Klingon battle cruisers. The individuals running the test are at first unaware that Kirk has tampered with the program, and are confused as to how he beat it. Among these individuals, we learn, is the administrator of the test, Spock (Zachary Quinto).

Kirk is brought to a trial of sorts in regards to having reprogrammed the test, where both he and Spock give statements before a council of Academy superiors. Kirk rejects the notion that there is a no-win scenario, while Spock contests that Kirk has failed to understand the underlying nature of the test, which is to have Academy students experience fear, and to be able to operate sufficiently in the presence of that fear, despite possibly knowing that they may not survive. He points out the actions of Kirk's father in these regards, which begins to get Kirk's dander up, but the interaction is interrupted by news of a distress call from the planet Vulcan. All cadets are assigned to starships immediately and launches are to take place to assist Vulcan as the majority of Starfleet vessels are engaged elsewhere in the galaxy. As Kirk is on academic probation, he is not assigned a ship as he will not actually graduate until the issue with his apparent cheating is resolved. McCoy expresses sympathy as to Kirk's plight, and is about to head off to his own assignment on the Enterprise, before he extends a favor to his good friend, and injects Kirk with the symptoms of a rare disease, citing a little-known regulation that will allow him to take Kirk aboard the Enterprise due to an existing doctor-patient relationship.

Also assigned to the Enterprise is Spock, the first officer, as well as Uhura, though she was initially assigned to the USS Farragut. We learn that Spock was in charge of ship assignments, and despite Uhura's high marks and skills, he did not initially assign her to the Enterprise as it could appear to be 'favoritism', but after Uhura's insistence, he readily places her on the Enterprise crew manifest. Pike is the captain of the ship, and we are also introduced to helmsman Hikaru Sulu, and weapons officer Pavel Andreivich Chekov.

Back in sickbay, the symptoms and McCoy's vaccination of them have some unforeseen side-effects, and McCoy is required to sedate Kirk for a time. After Kirk comes to, he hears an announcement made by Chekov detailing the nature of the mission and the crisis on Vulcan, which includes a description of a 'lightning storm in space'. This alerts Kirk, as it exactly matches the anomaly that the Kelvin encountered and ultimately resulted in the death of his father. Amidst various side-effects from McCoy's treatments, Kirk dashes to Uhura's post elsewhere in the ship, and asks her more information about the distress call that she had overheard from the Klingon's the day before. Apparently, a number of Klingon ships had been destroyed at the hands of one large vessel, which was Romulan in origin - just like with the Kelvin. Aghast, Kirk has Uhura follow him to the bridge, where he attempts to explain to the Captain and those present that they are walking into a trap and that Vulcan is under attack, not subject to a natural disaster. With Uhura's testimony to back him up, Kirk is ultimately believed by both Pike and Spock, but as they are too close to Vulcan at this point, they elect to stay on the current course, only being prepared for what may come. When they come out of warp, they learn that all of the other Federation vessels that arrived before them have been destroyed, and that the giant Romulan ship is emitting some sort of beam down into the planet Vulcan's core. Dodging space-ship debris, the Enterprise is almost given the same fate as the other starships, but the commander of the Romulan ship, Nero, catches sight of the fact that this is the Starship Enterprise. Instead of destroying the ship, he opens hailing frequencies, and orders the captain to fly over via shuttle for negotiations. They are unable to use transporters, or to contact Starfleet, due to interference that is being given by the energy beam that is drilling into Vulcan below. Captain Pike, pretty much knowing that this is a trap, agrees to the meeting. However, he has three individuals trained in combat accompany him on the shuttle (Sulu, Kirk, and Chief Engineer Olson), who are to space jump out of the shuttle onto the drilling platform that is emitting the beam, disable the beam, and then transport back to the Enterprise. As he puts together this plan, he promotes Spock to Captain, and Kirk to First Officer, knowing that he might not make it back alive from the Romulan ship.

The space jump involves Kirk, Sulu and engineer Olson essentially skydiving from space and then parachuting onto the drilling platform at high altitude, needing to time it perfectly as they only have one shot. Olson is the first to 'land', but opens his parachute too late and as such falls off the edge of the drilling platform and is sucked into the energy beam underneath, completely obliterated. This is bad news, as he was carrying the explosive charges that were to be used to sabotage the platform. Both Kirk and Sulu make it onto the platform with relatively little difficulty, though are forced to fight a pair of Romulans who have emerged from the platform to investigate. Sulu shows off his mad fencing skills with a retractable katana, while Kirk relies on just using his fists. After the Romulans are taken care off, Kirk and Sulu use the Romulans' own firearms to shoot up the platform, disrupting the drilling beam, and are then able to get transported back to the Enterprise.

Meanwhile, on the Romulan ship, the Romulan captain Nero has Pike hostage, and is attempting to gain information from him about Earth's defenses. Nero is informed of the drill's demise, but that the drill had successfully reached the planet's core before it was destroyed. Nero then orders for the 'Red Matter' to be sent into the planet's core. A small sample of Red Matter from a much larger collection held elsewhere on the ship is collected into a tube and then launched into the heart of the planet Vulcan. This starts a chain reaction which begins to destroy the planet as it creates a singularity - a black hole - at the center of the planet.

The Enterprise has been busy attempting to figure out the purpose of the drill and subsequently the red matter that was launched into the planet. Just as the red matter begins to ignite, Chekov determines that it will create a black hole! The planet only has minutes to live. Spock has Uhura send out evacuation notices to the entire planet, while he rushes to the transporter room so that he can personally evacuate the Vulcan High Council, as they are the history and culture keepers of the planet. Not coincidentally, his parents are also at that location. As Spock is heading to the transporter room, Kirk and Sulu are ready to be beamed back, but the beginning explosions from the planet’s surface jar the drilling platform, sending Sulu plummeting towards the ground. Kirk jumps off after him, and through skillful skydiving skills, manages to catch up to the falling Sulu - unfortunately, neither of their parachutes are working properly at this point. The transporter technicians are unable to get a clear lock on the pair as they are falling too fast, but Chekov, apparently being a gifted mathematician, sprints to the transporter room as he is able to make the necessary calculations to beam both Sulu and Kirk aboard safely, which he does. He then beams Spock onto the planet, where Spock collects the Vulcan High Council and his parents, though as everyone is beaming back, Spock's mom does not make it because the planet surface begins to fall apart underneath her, disrupting her transporter signal. She has died. The planet Vulcan does not fare any better, and is consumed by the black hole, killing everyone on the planet that was not able to evacuate. The Romulan ship leaves towards Earth, while those on the Enterprise deal with the tragedy of what has just happened.

After witnessing the death of his home planet, Spock retreats into the turbo lift, where he is quickly followed by Uhura. Once they are alone in the turbo lift, Uhura is quick to embrace Spock tenderly, kissing him on the lips before staring deep into his eyes, and asking him what she can do to help him. Spock seems to return the embrace and almost seems to respond to the kiss, though remains quite stoic through the encounter, telling her that what would help best is for everyone to continue performing admirably. Uhura, torn up about Vulcan's destruction and the effect that it must be having on Spock, is close to tears, and embraces him again, nodding in response to his request.

Back on the Romulan ship, Nero is interrogating Pike for security codes and clearances for Earth's sector, as he wants to destroy not just Vulcan, but all Federation planets, starting with Earth. We learn that Nero watched as Romulus was destroyed, and the Federation did nothing to help, so he's pretty pissed off about that and wants retribution. Pike is confused, and informs Nero that Romulus is doing just fine, but Nero flips out, screaming about how he watched Romulus die, and that it did indeed happen, he watched it happen. He then asks for Pike's codes again, and this time brings out a little disgusting bug that he says will attach itself to Pike's spinal cord and make him give up the info, but Pike still doesn't break instead starting to recite his name and rank, before the Romulans forcibly feed him the little critter.

Back to the Enterprise - Spock has decided to have the Enterprise regroup with the remainder of Starfleet in an attempt to marshal their forces. It was Pike's standing orders before they left, and according to Spock, the most logical course of action. Kirk doesn't agree, instead maintaining that they need to stop Nero before he gets to Earth, and that they need to think outside the box in order to make any headway against him. We also learn that due to Nero's obviously advanced technology, and the presence of matter/technology that can create time/space singularities, that is likely that Nero is from some point in the future - and that his presence has created an alternate timeline. Actually, it's not a bad description for the audience who might be concerned about Star Trek canon at this point, informing the viewer that with the alterations to the timeline at this point, we are now in an alternate reality, and pretty much all bets are off. Regardless, Kirk and Spock argue over the correct course of action, and as Kirk will not take 'no' for an answer, Spock ultimately administers the Vulcan nerve pinch before ordering security to have Kirk removed from the ship entirely. He is jettisoned via escape pod to the surface of a nearby planet, Delta Vega, which is covered with snow and deemed by the pod's computer to be hostile, though there is a Starfleet outpost some 14 kilometers away.


Naturally, Kirk does not wait for someone from the outpost as the pod's computer suggests, but instead opts to make the trek to the outpost on foot. The weather is snowy and harsh, and Kirk's progress is further complicated by natural predators that chase him across the snowy hills and ice. He seeks refuge in a cave, though is followed inside by one of the larger beasts and seems as if he will be lunchmeat, save for the timely arrival of a hooded figure, who wards of the beast with a flare. That hooded figure is none other than Ambassador Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy. Ambassador Spock is shocked to find young James Kirk there, wondering how Kirk found him there. Spock relays his own story via mind meld to Kirk, and we learn that some 129 years in the future, Spock promised aid to the Romulans in regards to a supernova that was threatening the known galaxy. Spock was en route to the supernova, but the Romulan home world was destroyed in the supernova's path before Spock was able to get there in time. He was still able to launch an iota of 'Red Matter' which was able to negate the supernova, causing the exploding star to implode in on itself and become a black hole instead. Unfortunately, the Romulan home world had already been destroyed, even though the rest of civilization had been saved, but that was not sufficient for Nero, who had arrived just in time to witness the destruction of the planet. Infuriated, he attacked Spock's ship, and the resulting combat sent the two vessels into the newly created black hole, transporting them back in time. Nero's ship arrived some 25 years before Spock's, even though to Spock, the time difference was only a matter of seconds. The extra time gave Nero the opportunity to prepare for Spock's arrival, and Nero had captured Spock immediately, confiscating his ship, and then beaming Spock to the surface of Delta Vega, where Spock would be able to watch the destruction of the planet Vulcan, knowing that he was to blame for it.

After relating this tale, Spock implores to Kirk that Kirk needs to assume command of the Enterprise and stop Nero. Kirk learns that Nero's arrival has completely altered the reality from which Ambassador Spock had come, and that in Ambassador Spock's reality, Kirk had known his father for many years, and had been inspired to join Starfleet because of him. He also learns of Spock and Kirk's great friendship, and the destiny that he had before him. Emboldened by this news, and the destruction that Nero had wrought and would continue to foster upon this time, Kirk accepts Ambassador Spock's instruction, and the two make their way to the Starfleet outpost. There, they encounter a young engineer Montgomery Scott, who was apparently assigned to this remote installation as a punishment for his wild theories of extreme distance transportation, and the fact that testing those theories resulted in Admiral Archer's prized beagle going MIA. Those theories, however, also included the possibility of transporting onto a ship while at warp speed, a theory that would actually be discovered/proven by Scott at some point in the future. Spock speeds up matters by giving Scott the completed calculations, allowing both Scott and Kirk to transport onto the Enterprise which is en route to the Starfleet rendezvous point.

After transporting onto the ship, Kirk and Scott are brought to the bridge, where Kirk starts the process of trying to incite Spock to show his grief and/or anger at the destruction of the planet Vulcan, thus proving him to be emotionally compromised due to the mission at hand, and unfit for command. While Kirk's initial attempts relating to the destruction of the planet are not successful, when he addresses Spock's feelings for his now deceased mother, and suggests that Spock never even cared for her at all, Spock is sent into rage and begins to pound Kirk into a pulp, nearly choking him to death before Spock's father speaks up and stops Spock. Shamed, Spock removes himself from the captainancy, and leaves the bridge. Kirk then assumes command, as Sulu supports his claim that Pike had indeed made Kirk first officer of the ship.

Now in command of the Enterprise, Kirk changes course to head to Earth and stop the Romulans. There is much discussion amongst the bridge crew about how this should be done - but Chekov does some math in his head and determines that the Enterprise can hide behind the magnetic interference of Saturn to sneak up on the Romulan ship. Though McCoy is distrustful of the 17 yr's olds ideas, Spock makes a timely arrival (after another Vulcan heart-to-heart with his father) and supports Chekov's math. A plan is formulated where Spock will beam aboard the Romulan ship, stop the drilling, steal the Red Matter, and rescue Captain Pike. He is the most logical choice, as Vulcans and Romulans share a common ancestry, and Spock also wants to save Earth as he is part human as well and now that's his only home. Kirk insists on coming with him, and Spock doesn't even try to quote regulation against it, as he knows Kirk will disregard that anyways.


As Kirk and Spock are waiting to be beamed over to the Romulan ship, Uhura gives Spock a rather lengthy and passionate farewell kiss, wishing him luck. Spock is quite obvious in returning the kiss and embrace at this point, and calls Uhura by her first name, Nyota. Kirk does a double take at this action, and after Uhura leaves, cannot help but inquire, "So, her first name is..." but Spock deadpans the response, "I have no comment on the matter, " before the two prepare to beam over. Scotty (Simon Pegg) has informed them that if he has anticipated the ship's layout correctly, they should be beamed directly into the cargo bay where no one would be around. Unfortunately, they are instead beamed into what looks to be the command center, where there are tons of people around. A phaserfight ensues, and Kirk and Spock barely make it out alive. However, they do, and make their way to Ambassador Spock's ship, which young Spock notes is of much higher order of technology than he was anticipating. After he speaks, the ship's computer recognizes his voice, and replies, "Welcome Back, Ambassador Spock," to which Kirk tries to disregard, stating, "Gee, that's odd." But Spock is no dummy, and begins to put the pieces together and realizes that this is his ship from the future. He inquires why Kirk did not tell him about Spock's future self, and Kirk confesses that the future Spock instructed him not to. Leaving Spock to pilot the ship, Kirk then sets off to rescue Captain Pike.

Spock is successful in starting up the ship and navigating out from the Romulan's hangar bay, while Kirk searches for Pike, but instead finds none other than Nero. Kirk aims his phaser at Nero from across the room, making demands for Nero to stop his attack on Earth and to free Pike, but is blindsided by another Romulan who clocks Kirk upside the head. Nero recognizes Kirk from the history books, and realizes that this is one of the Federations greatest heroes. Of course, hating the Federation as he does, Nero takes the opportunity to beat the tar out of Kirk, who in this movie is getting a crash course in how to take a good beating. Nero stops his thrashing of Kirk, however, as he learns of Spock's escape with the Vulcan ship and the Red Matter inside it. Spock has also used the Vulcan ship to destroy the drill, thereby saving Earth.

Nero leaves Kirk in the hands of one of his underlings, heading off to the bridge/command center to pursue Spock. Kirk attempts to escape, but is physically overpowered by the Romulan until Kirk manages to get a hold of the Romulan's weapon, firing it at close range to kill the Romulan. He then resumes his search for Pike, finding the captain still strapped to the interrogation table. As he is freeing Pike, Spock is charting a collision course back towards the Romulan vessel - the Romulans are firing off every weapon and torpedo that they have, and look to have the upper hand, until the timely arrival of the Enterprise, which is able to stop the torpedoes and mines that are about to decimate Spock's ship. Spock, Kirk and Pike are then beamed safely aboard the Enterprise seconds before Spock's ship collides with the Romulan vessel, the Red Matter inside causing a HUGE space/time explosion that creates a giant black hole that begins to swallow the Romulan ship. Kirk offers aid to Nero, but Nero refuses and Kirk then quickens the Romulan's destruction by opening fire on the ship. As the Romulan ship is destroyed, however, the Enterprise is unable to break free from the gravitational pull of the singularity, and the crew are forced to jettison the warp core, which detonates in the black hole and gives off a sufficient explosion to propel the Enterprise free from the black hole's gravitational pull. They are saved.

Due to his extreme valor and saving the Earth and stuff, Kirk is awarded the rank of Captain, and is given the Enterprise as his vessel, taking it from the also newly promoted Admiral Pike, who is now in a wheelchair. Young Spock finally meets up with his elder self, who instructs young Spock to follow his heart and stay in Starfleet, where he has a great destiny as well as a lifelong friendship ahead of him. Ambassador Spock will assist with the rebuilding of the Vulcan society and culture, and already has found a new world for the survivors to colonize. The movie ends with Kirk in command of the Enterprise, his familiar bridge crew around him, including Dr. McCoy, and also Command Spock, who offers himself as First Officer, a position to which Kirk readily agrees. They set off on their first official mission together, set to the narration of Leonard Nimoy quoting the introduction to the original television series....


credits - tracey@movie spoiler