In the vast silence of prehistoric Earth, a mysterious black monolith appears amongst a group of early hominids, influencing their evolution by prompting the discovery of tools and weapons. Millions of years later, a similar monolith is found buried on the moon's surface, suggesting the existence of an ancient, intelligent alien civilization. The monolith emits a powerful signal towards Jupiter, igniting human curiosity and driving a mission to the gas giant to uncover the source and purpose of the signal.

A team of astronauts aboard the spaceship Discovery One, including Dr. Dave Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole, are accompanied by HAL 9000, a highly advanced and seemingly sentient computer, to maintain ship operations during their journey to Jupiter. As they progress, the relationship between humans and artificial intelligence aboard the spacecraft becomes strained, leading to a tense and perilous situation that questions the reliability of technology and the nature of human evolution in the wider cosmos.