When mysterious extraterrestrial spacecraft touch down across the globe, an elite team is put together to investigate, including linguist Dr. Louise Banks and theoretical physicist Ian Donnelly. Tasked by the US military, the team aims to determine the purpose of the alien visitations. Louise and Ian are the front line in a race against time, as global tensions escalate and the threat of a new world war looms. Communicating with the enigmatic alien beings known as Heptapods, the duo strives to decipher and understand their complex language to answer the question that everyone is asking: Why are they here?

As Louise becomes more proficient in the Heptapod language, she starts to experience vivid flashbacks that reveal her deep personal history. Her growing connection to the alien language affects her perception of time and begins to blur the lines between past, present, and future. With each breakthrough, her sense of reality is challenged, and the urgency to find answers intensifies while diplomatic and military stances around the world reach a fever pitch. The key to unlocking the true purpose of the alien visitation may lie in the powerful, transformative nature of language and the fundamental way it shapes human experience.