In the 18th century Caribbean, the bustling port town of Port Royal gets rocked when the notorious pirate ship, the Black Pearl, launches a sudden attack. The crew of the Black Pearl, led by the intimidating Captain Barbossa, is pursuing a mysterious treasure that has eluded them for years. During the chaos, the governor's independent daughter, Elizabeth Swann, is kidnapped after the pirates discover she possesses a valuable piece of gold—a medallion linked to their curse. Elizabeth's childhood friend, the blacksmith Will Turner, desperate to save her, enlists the aid of Jack Sparrow, a wily and devious pirate who recently arrived in Port Royal. Sparrow has his own reasons for wanting to intercept the Black Pearl, holding a personal grudge against its crew.

Sparrow and Turner form an uneasy alliance and set sail on a daring rescue mission. Their pursuit reveals that the pirates aboard the Black Pearl are cursed to live forever as the undead, a secret tied closely to the medallion Elizabeth carries. The curse renders them unable to enjoy any of life's pleasures and can only be broken by returning all the scattered pieces of gold to its chest and sacrificing the blood of one of their own. As Elizabeth fights for her survival among the pirates, Turner discovers his hidden connection to the Black Pearl's cursed treasure, which propels him deeper into the fray, complicating the rescue and the quest to return things to normal.