Buckle your seatbelts and hold on tight, as we ramp up to 88 miles per hour and break
down the entire time-traveling adventure story of the Back to the Future trilogy.
There's not a lot we know about the original version of 1885 before Marty and Doc started
messing with it, but we do know one vitally important event that happens: Clara Clayton
was hired to be the new teacher at the Hill Valley school.
She had just arrived at the Hill Valley train station, loaded up her wagon with her possessions,
and was heading to her new home when a snake spooked her horses.
She lost control of her wagon, and her horses took off galloping toward Shonash Ravine.
After careening into the ravine, Clara died without ever making it to her teaching post.
Clayton Ravine wound up being named after her, and the story of her death became an
urban legend at Hill Valley High.
"Every kid at school knows that story because we all have teachers we'd like to see fall
into the ravine."
In Hill Valley during the fall of 1955, a teenage George McFly is up in a tree using
a pair of binoculars to watch his high school crush Lorraine Baines change in her bedroom
when he falls out into the road and is hit by a car.
The driver of the car turns out to be Lorraine's father, who ... not realizing that George
was peeping through his daughter's window ... brings George into their house to recuperate.
Lorraine finds herself attracted to George, drawn in by his apparent helplessness, and
the two decide to attend the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance together, where they kiss for
the first time.
However, Lorraine is also pursued by Biff Tannen, another teen in their high school
class who bullies George relentlessly.
Although Lorraine chooses George, Biff remains fixated on her, and works to make George's
life more miserable as a result.
On November 5, shortly before Lorraine and George meet, Dr. Emmett "Doc" Brown slips
off his toilet while hanging a clock, bangs his head, and is temporarily knocked unconscious.
When he comes to, he's had a vision of an invention called a flux capacitor, which is
what makes time travel possible.
On November 12, the clock tower at the Hill Valley courthouse is struck by lightning.
The original Back to the Future film begins in 1985, where George and Lorraine are now
married and live in a modest suburban home in Hill Valley.
At work, George reports to Biff, who continues to bully him and creepily hit on Lorraine.
Instead of doing his homework, George has now graduated to doing Biff's reports for
him.
Lorraine's brother Joey is in jail, and has failed to make his parole for at least the
second time.
George and Lorraine have three children: Dave, who is in his early 20s and works at Burger
King; Linda, who is around 19 and single, and their youngest, Marty, who is 17 and dreams
of being a rock star.
Marty's best friend is the eccentric scientist Doc Brown, and he has a serious girlfriend
named Jennifer, of whom Marty's mother doesn't approve.
"I don't like it, Marty. Any girl who calls a boy is just asking for trouble!"
After 30 years of refining his initial design, Doc finally perfects the flux capacitor and
builds a time machine out of a DeLorean.
Because his invention requires a huge amount of energy, he lies to a group of Libyan terrorists,
promising that he'll build them a bomb with the stolen plutonium they supply and instead
giving them a bomb casing filled with pinball machine parts.
As Doc conducts the first test of his time machine at the Twin Pines mall, the terrorists
arrive and shoot him dead.
In an effort to escape from the terrorists, Marty jumps into the DeLorean and accidentally
travels back in time.
Arriving in 1955, Marty crashes into a pine tree and winds up in a barn.
After hiding the time machine, Marty walks into town, where he sees a boy about to be
hit by a car and rushes to push him out of the way.
The car hits Marty instead, and the driver brings him inside, after which Marty realizes
that the boy he saved was his father, and that instead of becoming attracted to George,
Lorraine is now attracted to Marty, who goes by the alias Calvin Klein.
Determined to restore the timeline, Marty seeks out the advice of the 1955 version of
Doc, who has just had his vision of the flux capacitor.
Doc instructs him to do whatever he has to do in order to get his parents together before
Marty's timeline is completely erased from existence.
In the process, Marty's intervention gives George the idea for a sci-fi novel.
Marty's plan to push his parents together results in George standing up to Biff for
the first time, and a newly confident George finally kisses Lorraine.
Meanwhile, Marty gives Chuck Berry the idea to write the song "Johnny B. Goode," three
years before the song was composed in the original timeline.
Marty and Doc take advantage of the clock tower lightning strike to create the power
needed to run the flux capacitor, harnessing the lightning so Marty can return to 1985.
Before Marty departs, he writes Doc a letter warning him of his death in 1985, but Doc
rips the letter up, saying that the consequences of knowing his own future could be disastrous.
Marty decides to set the time of his return to a few minutes earlier than he left, hoping
he'll be able to save Doc.
However, by the time he arrives at the mall ... now Lone Pine Mall, thanks to the tree
Marty crashed into in 1955 ... he's too late, and watches Doc get shot again.
However, after the terrorists depart and Marty approaches Doc's body, Doc sits up, revealing
that he's wearing a bulletproof vest.
Stunned, Marty asked how he knew; Doc admits that he let curiosity get the best of him,
and taped Marty's letter back together.
Marty returns home to find his family significantly better off than he left them.
George is now a published science fiction novelist, and he and Lorraine are healthier
and much more flirtatious than they were in the original timeline.
While they still live in the same house, the decor has received an upgrade, although Marty's
room remains the same.
Biff now owns an auto shop, and is responsible for the detailing on the McFly cars.
Instead of a Burger King, Dave now works in an office, and while we still don't know much
about Linda's life, she's at least dating a lot, which seems to speak to her increased
self-confidence.
Perhaps thanks to her own altered high school dating experience, Lorraine now loves Jennifer,
and the McFlys have purchased Marty a black pickup truck, which they expect him to take
on his weekend trip with her.
We never see what would've originally happened in the original 2015 timeline before Marty
traveled back to 1955 the first time, and we actually never get to learn exactly how
things play out in the first new timeline he creates either.
The first perspective of 2015 that we get is Doc's, whose presence in 2015 causes yet
another timeline to branch off.
However, odds are that most of this new timeline was very similar.
In this timeline, after graduating high school, Marty was going to pursue a career in music,
but finds his rock star dreams thwarted due to a hand injury sustained during a car accident.
Eventually, Marty and Jennifer get married in the Chapel O' Love and have two children,
Marlene and Marty Junior.
In 2015, Marty Jr. agrees to help Biff's grandson, Griff Tannen, rob the Hill Valley Payroll
Substation.
He's apprehended by police, and sentenced to 15 years in prison.
Marlene then attempts to break him out, and she is sentenced to 20 years.
Doc witnesses all of this during his visit, and takes a newspaper to help him track alterations
to the timeline.
He also gets a hover conversion for the DeLorean which allows the car to fly, replaces the
DeLorean's energy source with a Mr. Fusion portable nuclear reactor, and puts his dog,
Einstein, into a suspended animation kennel ... which honestly seems pretty risky, considering
that he's about to reset the whole timeline again.
Just as everything seems perfect for Marty in 1985, Doc returns from 2015 and informs
Marty and Jennifer that their future children need their help.
The three of them pile into the DeLorean ... which can now fly, thanks to its alterations ... and
zip back to 2015, thus spinning off a third alternate timeline.
Biff sees them disappear, but can't make sense of what he saw for another 30 years.
In 2015, Jennifer is knocked unconscious while Marty impersonates his son so he can avoid
the payroll robbery, thus giving both of his children a better fate.
Thanks to Marty's intervention, Griff and his gang are arrested instead.
Feeling lucky, Marty purchases a Grays Sports Almanac, detailing the results of sporting
events from 1950-2000, but Doc makes him throw it away.
However, recognizing the flying DeLorean from 1985, a much older Biff realizes that it's
a time machine.
Unbeknownst to Marty, Old Biff grabs the sports almanac, and later steals the DeLorean.
Meanwhile, Jennifer is brought to her future home by well-meaning police officers who believe
she's the 2015 version of herself.
While hiding from her future family, she witnesses the older Marty being fired by his boss after
agreeing to participate in an illegal scheme with a coworker.
Afterward, she reconnects with Marty and Doc, and the trio ... plus Einstein, who's thankfully
fine ... return to 1985.
Old Biff returns to November 5, 1955, the same day Marty originally traveled to in the
first movie.
He tracks down the teenage Biff at his grandmother's house and gives the Grays Sports Almanac to
his younger self, instructing him to use it to place bets on sporting events.
At first, the younger Biff is skeptical, but Old Biff convinces him of the almanac's authenticity
by using it to predict the results of a live event being reported on the radio.
After convincing teenage Biff of the almanac's potential power, Old Biff instructs him to
always keep it hidden and locked up.
He also warns his younger self that at some point in the future, a "kid" or a "crazy,
wild-eyed old man who claims to be a scientist" may show up asking about the book.
When that happens, Old Biff tells Young Biff that he shouldn't hesitate to kill them.
Old Biff then takes the DeLorean and returns to 2015, leaving the almanac with his younger
self.
Not long after, Biff uses the sports almanac to place his first bet, and quickly starts
amassing a fortune.
Sometime after Marty was born, Biff ... now a billionaire, thanks to the almanac ... kills
George McFly and marries Lorraine.
He also starts a company called BiffCo, uses his vast resources and influence to legalize
gambling in California, and builds himself a 27-story casino in Hill Valley named Biff's
Pleasure Paradise.
Biff's control doesn't end with his businesses, though.
He also largely usurps control of the Hill Valley Police Department, leading to Hill
Valley becoming a teeming crime hub.
As for Lorraine's children, by 1985, Dave has fallen into a life of crime, although
Biff pays to keep him out of jail; Linda lives off of Biff's credit cards; and Marty is sent
to boarding school in Switzerland.
Back in Hill Valley, Biff forces Lorraine to get cosmetic surgery and she becomes an
alcoholic.
"Mom, it can't be you!"
"Yes it's me, Marty.
Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, it's just that you're so… you're so… big."
This is the 1985 that Marty and Doc return to, in which they quickly realize that something
in the past has gone horribly wrong.
Doc learns that the 1985-D version of himself has been committed to a mental hospital, and
that George McFly is dead.
Marty confronts Biff, who readily admits everything about the almanac and his killing of George,
and also tells him exactly when he received the almanac from his future self.
Biff then attempts to shoot Marty with the same gun that killed his father, but Marty
and Doc escape in the DeLorean.
Marty and Doc travel back to 1955 to steal the sports almanac back from younger Biff
and restore the timeline.
Most events play out as they did in 1955-A, since Doc and Marty have to be careful not
to allow the other versions of themselves from the first movie know they are there.
Marty manages to steal the almanac from Biff after George knocks him unconscious, but Biff
later manages to steal it back.
Finally, Marty is able to retrieve the almanac from Biff's car while he's driving it, resulting
in yet another car crash.
Doc implores Marty to burn the almanac, which he does using a matchbook he'd taken from
Biff's Pleasure Paradise in 1985-D. As the almanac burns, the logo on the matchbook changes
into the one for Biff's auto detailing business from 1985-A.
Satisfied that they've restored the timeline, Marty and Doc prepare to return to 1985, but
before Doc can land the DeLorean and allow Marty to climb in, the flying car is struck
by lightning and disappears.
Doc arrives in 1885, back in the earliest days of Hill Valley, and finds that the time
circuits of the DeLorean have been completely fried by the lightning strike.
Lacking the technology to fix the time machine, Doc realizes he's stranded in 1885, and builds
a new life for himself as a blacksmith.
After spending some time in 1885, Doc decides to hide the DeLorean in a mine shaft and leave
detailed instructions for Marty on how to fix it in 1955, so he can return to 1985.
"If the me of the future is now in the past, how could you possibly know about it?"
"You sent me a letter."
Doc turns the letter over to the postal service, instructing them on the exact location, date,
and time that they'll be able to deliver it to Marty in 1955.
In his letter, he gives Marty explicit instructions not to return for him.
One of Doc's jobs as a blacksmith is shoeing a horse for Buford "Mad Dog" Tannen, Biff's
ancestor, but Tannen then refuses to pay.
Afterward, the horse throws Tannen off, causing him to break a $5 bottle of whiskey.
Tannen blames Doc for the incident, saying he owes him $5 for the whiskey and $75 for
the horse.
Shortly thereafter, Doc is asked by the mayor to go meet the new schoolteacher at the train
station, leading him to save Clara Clayton from her fall into the ravine.
The two quickly fall in love, but their romance is sadly short-lived.
After getting his portrait taken in front of the new courthouse clock, Doc is shot in
the back by Tannen while dancing with Clara at the town festival.
He dies and is buried in Hill Valley, where his grave is later discovered by Marty in
1955 after receiving Doc's letter.
"What's wrong, Marty?
You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"You're not far off, Doc."
After enlisting the help of the 1955-F Doc to fix the recovered century-old time machine,
Marty travels back to 1885, despite Doc's instructions.
However, Marty nicks the fuel line once he arrives in 1885, causing the DeLorean to run
out of gas.
Although Doc challenges Marty's decision to return for him, Marty explains that Doc has
only days left to live.
Doc and Marty ... the latter of whom is now using the alias "Clint Eastwood" ... begin
working together to try to figure out a way to get the DeLorean up to the required 88
miles per hour without fuel.
"We'll stop it here, uncouple the cars from the tender, throw the switch track, and then
we'll hijack ... borrow the locomotive, and use it to push the time machine."
Aside from Doc and Marty's attempts to get the time machine working, most events play
out as they did in 1885-F, up until the town festival, when Marty saves Doc's life.
Angry at Marty's interference, Mad Dog Tannen challenges him to a duel in two days' time.
Marty and Doc realize that they have to execute their plan to travel back to the future before
then, and start preparing to hijack a train.
However, Doc becomes so despondent after saying goodbye to Clara that he decides he won't
leave after all.
"Marty?"
"Yeah."
"I've made a decision."
"Uh-huh."
"I'm not going with you tomorrow.
I'm staying here."
The following morning, a heartbroken Clara buys a one-way train ticket out of Hill Valley,
while Marty is forced to face Tannen after all.
Using a trick from an old Clint Eastwood Western, Marty manages to survive and incapacitate
Tannen, and he and Doc go to commandeer the train, not realizing that Clara is on board.
As the train approaches 88 miles per hour, Doc chooses to save Clara rather than return
to the future with Marty, and as the train soars off the track into the ravine, the DeLorean
travels through time again.
Marty returns home for good, to a timeline very much like the one he'd hoped to restore,
with the exception that the ravine is now named "Eastwood Ravine," after he supposedly
perished in it in the past that he just left.
No sooner has Marty arrived back in 1985 than a modern train comes through, smashing the
DeLorean to bits while Marty jumps to safety.
Although it's bittersweet, Marty realizes that this is what Doc wanted: to have the
time traveling be over, the timeline secured, Marty back home, and Doc with his true love.
Marty reunites with Jennifer, and the two of them go for a drive.
They're challenged to a race by Marty's future criminal accomplice at a stoplight, but instead
of racing, Marty puts his truck in reverse.
Watching a Rolls Royce cut into the would-be path of his truck, Marty realizes he would
have gotten into a devastating car accident, which Jennifer realizes is the accident that
would've cost him his music career.
Looking at the fax from 2015-C in which Marty was fired, Jennifer sees that it's been erased.
Marty and Jennifer head back to the site of the wrecked DeLorean, and are shocked when
a flying locomotive engine appears out of nowhere.
It turns out that sometime after Marty traveled back to the future, Doc stole another train
and built a new time machine, which he and Clara are using to travel throughout time.
Doc reveals that he and Clara are now married with two young sons, Jules and Verne, after
their favorite science fiction author.
Doc urges Marty and Jennifer to make the best futures possible, since nothing has yet been
written, and then takes off in his train for worlds ... and times ... unknown.
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