An old legend in the West tells the story of the Ghost Rider, who is said to come once every
generation. They're a damned soul cursed to ride the Earth collecting the devil's deals. Many years
ago, a Ghost Rider named Carter Slade was sent to the village of San Venganza to fetch a contract
worth one thousand evil souls, but this contract was so powerful that he couldn't allow Mephisto
to have it so Carter rode away with it and outran the devil himself. One hundred fifty years later,
in 1986, Johny Blaze and his father Barton work together as stunt motorcycle riders,
although Barton is angry with Johny because he keeps getting distracted by his girlfriend Roxanne
sitting in the audience, which could cost him his life during a show. Barton's health is clearly
deteriorating more every day, but he refuses to quit smoking no matter how many times Johny throws
his cigarettes away. One afternoon, Roxanne comes to talk to Johny to share some devastating news:
her father is sending her away to live with her mother. Johny can't stand the idea of losing
her and asks her to run away together, Roxanne enthusiastically agrees and they plan to do it
the next day. Later in the evening while Barton is asleep, Johny finds a letter in the trash from
a hospital explaining that Barton's cancer is spreading. Johny can't believe his dad has been
hiding something like this and begins to think he may not be able to run away with Roxanne anymore
since leaving Barton like this would be cruel. His thoughts are suddenly interrupted by Mephisto,
who offers Johny a deal: he will cure Barton's cancer in exchange for the boy's soul. Johny
doesn't believe him but still checks the contract out of curiosity, causing him to accidentally cut
his finger with the paper. The drop of blood that falls on it is enough for Mephisto to consider
the deal sealed and before Johny can ask what he means, he passes out and wakes up the next morning
on his bed. Just as Mephisto promised, Barton's cancer is gone now. He's so excited about this
turn of events that he's already planning a new show that could possibly include jumping over a
helicopter and wants Johny to join him, but Johny is getting ready to run away with Roxanne. Now
that his dad is better he doesn't need him anymore and Johny wants more in life than stupid stunts;
such words hurt Barton but he doesn't want Roxanne's dad to send the cops after them
either, so he allows Johny to take his most beloved bike. When Johny is about to leave,
he hears some commotion coming from a tent and runs back to find out his father died during
the show after Mephisto paid him a quick visit. Afraid of what the contract has gotten him into,
Johny rides away considering ending things for himself, but Mephisto stops him because he needs
him alive, he also promises to come back in the future when he needs him. Before disappearing,
he touches Johny and lights a flame inside him as he asks him to leave everything he loves behind.
Afraid of what this may mean, Johny takes his bike and drives by Roxanne waiting for him but leaves
her without offering an explanation. Twenty-one years later in 2007, adult Johny is a famous stunt
rider known for how he's survived every single fall. When his stunts do fail is because he keeps
thinking about Mephisto and the contract, but he tries to convince himself he isn't afraid. Johny
never gives interviews but he's on good terms with his traveling crew, especially his best
friend Mack, who is worried about Johny wanting to clear the length of a football field in cars with
one jump on the anniversary of Barton's accident. There's also the fact Johny's obsessed with weird
religious books that Mack thinks may be messing with his mind, but Johny dismisses his worries,
explaining he's waiting for a sign. Meanwhile Mephisto's son Blackheart appears on Earth and
approaches a biker bar to kill every human inside. Once everyone is dead, the Hidden show up; they're
three fallen angels bonded with the elements. There's Gressil with earth-based powers, Abigor
with air-based powers, and Wallow with water-based powers. Blackheart wants them to help him find the
San Venganza contract to harness its tremendous power and take over the world and the Hidden
agree. Before they can get moving though, Mephisto shows up outside to remind Blackheart it isn't his
time yet, but Blackheart doesn't care. Mephisto can't hurt him on Earth because he's never fallen,
although the Ghost Rider can. However Blackheart isn't scared of Mephisto's creation and dares to
send the man after him, although he's clearly jealous over the fact his dad gave such power
to a human instead of him. The next day, Johny is getting ready for the show and ignoring reporters
as usual, but he makes an exception when he discovers an adult Roxanne has come to interview
him as well. Instead of answering her questions though, Johny keeps making his own because he
wants to know what she's been up to all these years. The interview is cut short since it's
going nowhere and Roxanne leaves no matter how much her cameraman wants to stay because she never
liked watching Johny jump. Speaking of Johny, he considers seeing Roxanne the sign he's been
waiting for and decides to go through his dad's old idea of jumping over a bunch of helicopters
instead of cars. By replacing the dark thoughts with Roxanne, Johny's jump is a total success,
but instead of stopping to celebrate, Johny just keeps going and drives out of the building to
catch up to Roxanne's van on the road. Since she refuses to pull over or even talk to him, Johny
speeds up ahead and blocks the road to make the van stop. This makes Roxanne furious, but Johny
points out that if Roxanne really didn't want anything to do with him she would've turned down
the interview before kissing her. Roxanne pushes him away but also sees his point and accepts to
get dinner together later. Night falls and Roxanne is waiting at the restaurant, worried about the
lack of messages from Johny, who is already pretty late. He's still at his apartment, delayed because
he's noticed his hands are getting quite red and hot. There's also a mysterious voice calling his
name, and when he goes outside he finds Mephisto, who wants Johny to stop Blackheart since that's
part of the contract. Obviously Johny refuses and gets on his bike ready to go on his date, but the
magic behind the contract kicks in and the bike suddenly gets covered in flames as it takes Johny
away at an insane speed, melting objects as they pass. Meanwhile Blackheart and the Hidden arrive
at the local train station where there used to be a cemetery; rumors say the San Venganza contract
was buried there. The station caretaker explains the graves were moved to a church graveyard and
tries to kick the group out, which gets him killed by Blackheart. Back to Johny, the bike takes him
all the way to a warehouse in the train station, where he finally loses all control and the magic
transforms him into a firey skeleton known as Ghost Rider. Blackheart finds him and doesn't
take him seriously enough to attack him at full power, so he sends Gressil after him
before leaving. Johny is more powerful than he looks and easily frees himself from Blackheart's
attack before jumping on Gressil, killing him in a second with his special flame chain. Afterward,
Johny uses his new powers to transform his bike into something more powerful and rides away until
he finds a teenager being robbed. Johny stops the attack and after the girl safely runs away,
he grabs the thief and uses his Penance Stare on him, a power that causes mortals to feel all the
pain they have caused others, searing their soul. The thief has caused so much damage to others in
his life that he can't take judgment and dies. Then Johny keeps on riding until he makes it to
the local graveyard just in time for the sun to rise, meaning he goes back to normal the moment
he reaches his father's grave, unaware that Carter Slade's also buried nearby. There, he's found by
the Caretaker, who takes Johny to his little shack when he passes out. A few hours later, Johny wakes
up with a headache, but Caretaker makes sure to remind him everything that happened last night
was real and it will happen again, so Johny needs to come to terms with the fact being Ghost Rider
is part of his life now. Caretaker offers his help and Johny accepts after some hesitation,
thus Caretaker takes care of Johny's wounds while telling him about the town of San Venganza,
where all the citizens' souls were trapped forever after killing each other over greed. Meanwhile
Roxanne is covering the disaster at the train station for the news, interviewing the teenager
that almost got robbed but not believing her when she describes a skeleton in flames. After the
interview is done, Roxanne is approached by Johny trying to apologize, but she doesn't accept it,
pointing out this is the second time he's hurt her and that maybe her father had been right,
he's just a phase. While the cops found a bike license plate under all the rubble, Johny returns
home and while using tips from his religious texts, he begins practicing to control his powers.
His training is interrupted by Roxanne, who is leaving town soon and wants to apologize for the
hurtful things she said only to end up kissing him. Worried about the whole Ghost Rider deal,
Johny pushes her away because he doesn't want to put her in danger. This enrages Roxanne,
who is tired of Johny's mixed messages and forces him to confess what's going on. Obviously she
doesn't believe him and she gets even angrier when he asks her to leave because the sun is setting,
so she's out of the door with her heart broken and assuming Johny is just making up excuses to
get rid of her. As soon as Roxanne is gone, the cops show up to arrest Johny because the license
plate they found was from his bike. At the police station, the detectives try to pull off the good
cop/bad cop trick on Johny and even threaten his career, but since Johny doesn't fall for it, he's
put in a cell until he's ready to confess. This cell is full of inmates eager to beat up a famous
person but as soon as they come closer, night finally falls and Johny becomes Ghost Rider again,
easily knocking out all the prisoners with one single hit except for a teenage boy with a pure
soul. After stealing another prisoner's jacket, Johny burns the cell bars and escapes on his bike,
ignoring the cops that try to stop him by driving on water. Meanwhile Blackheart is visiting the
priest that supposedly protects the location of the San Venganza contract, but the priest
refuses to talk and gets killed. Blackheart can also sense that Ghost Rider is coming after them,
so he sends Abigor to stop him; this causes Johny to chase the demon all over the city
while the cops chase him in return. When Abigor climbs up a very tall building, Johny does the
same on his bike; this is seen by Roxanne from her hotel room and helps her start believing the
story. On the top of the building, Johny uses his chain to catch the police helicopter and
throws it away before turning to Abigor, but the same trick doesn't work on him because you can't
grab something made of air. Fortunately Johny is a quick thinker and uses the chain to create a small
firey hurricane that absorbs Abigor and kills him anyway. Afterward, he lands his bike in the middle
of the streets and notices Roxanne in the curious crowd but he can't approach her because the police
get in the way. Their bullets can't hurt Johny so after pushing them back with a wall of fire,
he rides safely away. By the time the sun rises, Johny makes it to the graveyard and asks Caretaker
for help. After explaining the whole story behind Carter Slade and the stolen contract,
Caretaker reminds Johny that Blackheart would do anything to get him, including hurting his
loved ones, so Johny rushes back to the city to check on Roxanne. In the meantime, the police are
still trying to find Johny and ask Roxanne for her help since she's close to him, but she pretends to
know nothing. Afterward, Roxanne goes to Johny's apartment only to find Mack, who is trying to find
out what's going on with his best friend. Roxanne doesn't want to tell such an unbelievable story,
but she does accept to look over the religious texts for clues with him. When night falls,
Blackheart and Wallow visit Caretaker and beat him up, trying to get him to confess the location of
the contract, but since Caretaker doesn't break, Blackheart decides he'll need to go after Johny.
Moments later, he shows up at the apartment too and after killing Mack, he turns to Roxanne to
find a way to use her against Johny. Speaking of Johny, he finally shows up then and starts a fight
against Blackheart, but his Penance Stare doesn't work on him because Blackheart doesn't have a
soul. Blackheart takes advantage of this moment to push Johny away and undo his transformation,
then he kidnaps Roxanne while telling Johny that he'll have to bring the San Venganza contract if
he wants to see her again. Moments later, Johny is back at the graveyard and convinces Caretaker to
give him the contract, which had been hiding in his shovel all along. Since Johny made his deal
out of love and not greed, Caretaker trusts he can end this and offers his help as he reveals the
Carter Slade grave is fake. It turns out Caretaker is the real Carter and he still has his Ghost
Rider powers, so he calls his horse and rides together with Johny to guide him to San Venganza.
Unfortunately Caretaker can't stay because this is the last time he could transform, but he does
give Johny a shotgun before leaving. The first opponent that Johny encounters is Wallow, who
tries to drown him in his swamp, but water can't hurt Johny and he uses his flames to evaporate the
demon. Next, Johny goes after Blackheart, making him drop Roxanne before pretending to hand him
the contract. This is just a trick that triggers another fight, but since the sun is coming out,
Johny loses his powers and can't stop Blackheart from grabbing the contract and absorbing the
power of all the souls, transforming him into Legion. Johny still refuses to give up and shoots
Legion with his shotgun, but the bullets don't hurt him and Legion grabs Johny by the neck,
ready to kill. Luckily he's saved by Roxanne, who retrieves the shotgun and blows up Legion's head,
making him drop Johny. While Legion takes a moment to regenerate, Johny takes the shotgun from
Roxanne and manages to transform it the same way he did with his bike by putting it in the shadows,
because the problem is sunlight itself and not just the time of the day. A shot from
this powered weapon blows up Legion, and while he goes through regeneration again,
Johny watches the souls reforming the demon's body, which gives him an idea. By stepping into
the shadows, he manages to transform into Ghost Rider and this time, he can use his Penance Stare
because now Legion has thousands of souls to be judged. By burning all the corrupt souls,
Legion dies as well. With their enemy defeated, Roxanne comes closer and touches the flaming face,
proving she isn't afraid of Johny before kissing him. On their way out, they come across Mephisto,
who congratulates Johny on a job well done and asks for the Ghost Rider power back.
However Johny refuses to return it because he doesn't want it to fall in the wrong hands,
so he'll keep it to protect the innocent. Unfortunately this also means Johny can't
have a normal life again, so after Mephisto is gone, he says goodbye to Roxanne,
who is very understanding since this is what Johny has always been. The couple shares one last kiss
before Johny rides his bike into the sunset to start a new life as the only Ghost Rider.