Prometheus starts with a trail of clues on Earth that takes the explorers into space. In 2089 two archaeologists, Elizabeth Shaw (Noomi Rapace) and Holloway (Logan Marshall-Green) discover ancient pictograms in a cave on Skye that persuade them that visitors from a distant planet have visited earth. She's a devout Christian, while Holloway is a atheist, and they gradually become convinced that these extraterrestrials may have actually created our world.

The spaceship Prometheus, is approaching a unknown planet in 2093, on an expedition financed by the head of the giant Weyland Company. Shaw and Holloway are among the 17 people aboard, and the crew and scientific staff are just waking up from two years of sleep on the cryogenic deck. The only person awake throughout the voyage is the  handsome android David (Michael Fassbender) – who is half human and half machine. Immediately on landing on the unknown planet, they discover signs of life. Especially excited are Shaw and Holloway, eager to test their hypotheses, but there are also secret agendas being followed by devious capitalists. Most notable among the latter is Meredith Vickers (Charlize Theron), the chilly Weyland official heading the operation. What do the team discover and what happens further on the planet ? The rest of the drama and the climax answer these questions.