In the near future, overpopulation and climate change have brought global destruction to Earth.
An organization known as the Uniting Ranger Corps is formed in order to organize an evacuation of
the planet, and humanity gets to settle in a space colony called Nova Prime. Seeing as humans are now
vulnerable, a race of aliens called S'krell sends a bunch of Urses to invade. These Ursas
are vicious predators that were bred to kill humans, and although they're blind, they're
able to hunt people by detecting the pheromones they secret when frightened. To stop the invasion,
the rangers fight the Ursas with their blades, and Prime Commander Cypher proves himself a hero
when he learns how to suppress his emotions. By not showing any fear, a person becomes
invisible to the Ursas, this is a technique known as "ghosting". A few years after the war, Cypher's
son Kitai is a cadet at the ranger academy because he wants to be like his father. Even during the
most basic of tests like jogging, he puts extra effort just to prove he's special. However, while
his test scores are great, he isn't doing well in the field, and Kitai doesn't get the promotion
to ranger that he wanted yet. Later in the evening, when Cypher returns home from a mission,
Kitai tells him he's failed to get promoted. Instead of showing comfort toward his son,
Cypher stays cold as usual and comments Kitai must've not been ready, because the commander
knows what he's doing. Cypher always acts cold toward his family, as if he didn't know how to
turn off the soldier mode, even demanding Kitai to always call him "sir" and yelling orders at him at
the table. After dinner, Cypher brings his wife Faia a gift he got from the mission and tells her
that he'll be leaving the next day for Iphito to train cadets. However after that mission is over,
he intends to retire and work with her in the admin department. Faia is glad to hear that and
points out he needs to spend more time with Kitai, chat with him and be less distant. Kitai needs a
father, not a commanding officer. She thinks Kitai has lots of insecurities because he blames himself
for the death of his sister Senshi and tries to connect with her by reading her favourite book,
Moby Dick. With this in mind, Cypher approaches Kitai and tells him he'll come to Iphito with
him. Sometime later, the crew gets ready to leave, and Kitai notices a ranger with an amputated leg
approaching his father to express his gratitude for saving him during the war with the Ursas.
Cypher thinks it's not necessary, but the ranger still asks his friends to help him stand up to
salute properly as a sign of respect for humanity's hero. Once the trip beings,
Kitai tries to connect with his father and tells him he's reading Moby Dick, but Cypher isn't much
of a talker and keeps his answers short and cold. Then he tells Kitai that he should sleep
for the rest of the journey. Kitai pretends to obey but once Cypher is asleep, he leaves his
seat to explore the ship. He finds a mysterious area with warning signs, but he enters anyway,
and the guarding rangers immediately scold him for it. However when they realize he's Cypher's son,
they allow him to come in and see their cargo: it turns out they're transporting an Ursa,
which will be used to teach the cadets how to ghost. The ranger dares Kitai to
touch the Ursa's shell and test his emotional control, but when Kitai begins walking closer,
he begins having flashbacks of the night his sister died. An Ursa had attacked their home,
and Senshi put Kitai inside a glass containment to keep the monster from smelling him. Right
when Kitai is about to touch the shell, the Ursa smells his fear and roars at him, startling him
into stepping back. Meanwhile Cypher wakes up and senses some strange vibrations, so he uses
his ring against the ship wall to confirm there's danger coming. He rushes to tell the rangers to be
on full alert, and orders Kitai to put on his life suit and strap himself to his seat. Then
Cypher goes to the cockpit and informs the pilots that they're heading toward an asteroid storm.
Before they can correct their course, the ship begins shaking as it gets hit by the asteroids,
making it lose an engine. Cypher orders the pilots to enter the nearest wormhole, that way they can
travel to a different anchorage. The ship crosses the wormhole safely and appears near Earth, which
the law says nobody should return to because of its dangers. Cypher wants to head somewhere else,
but the pilots explain the ship has taken too much damage, meaning they must land as soon as
possible. As the ship gets closer to Earth's atmosphere, it begins shaking again and Kitai
panics, so Cypher guides him to take deep breaths to calm him down. At that moment, the ship begins
breaking apart, and Cypher is blown away by the wind as Kitai falls unconscious. A moment later,
Kitai wakes up and discovers the ship has crashed. He leaves his seat to look for the others,
but all the rangers he finds are dead. Luckily he finds Cypher and confirms he's still alive,
so Kitai sits by his side and waits for him to wake up. When Cypher gains consciousness,
Kitai explains to him that the ship's tail is gone, meaning the Ursa is gone as well. Cypher
guides Kitai to the cockpit to find the emergency beacon, but when he tries to use it he discovers
it's broken. Afterwards, Kitai puts Cypher on a stretcher and takes him to the ship's main
computer, where Cypher checks the inventory and confirms there's another beacon in the ship's
tail. Since both his legs are hurt, Cypher gives Kitai the mission to find the tail, which the
scanner says it's about a hundred kilometres away. Then Cypher gives Kitai his blade plus six vials
of air-filtration inhalers that will help him breathe in Earth's hostile environment. He also
informs him that the life suit and the backpack have cameras, so Cypher will see everything Kitai
sees. The boy needs to be really careful because everything on Earth has evolved to kill humans,
which makes Kitai remember how he had to watch his sister being killed by an Ursa. Kitai asks
Cypher about the Ursa that they were carrying, and Cypher thinks it must've died in the crash,
but it's safer to assume it's still out there. After taking one of the inhalers, Kitai leaves
the ship and gets very nervous because he can see all the bodies around. To calm him down,
Cypher makes him take the knee and reminds him to concentrate on the moment to overcome his fears.
Then Kitai begins his journey, which allows him to meet lots of animals he's never seen in his
life. When he's climbing a cliff, he's startled by a spider on his hand, and when he reaches the top,
he sees birds flying through the sky and cattle grazing on the plains. It's a stunning view,
especially for someone that always lived in space. At that moment, Cypher releases a bunch of probes
to find the Ursa, and he reminds Kitai that the temperature heavily drops at night. To survive,
he must find one of the many hot spots before it gets dark. Then Cypher scans his own injuries
and confirms his leg bones are broken, making him consider taking some medicine to fight the
pain. However the label warns him that the shot could make him drowsy and impair his vision,
and this makes Cypher think of the time his daughter called him during the war. Senshi
had found an original copy of Moby Dick, which was a big deal because real books weren't around
anymore. Cypher had acted very coldly toward her enthusiasm, and now he's starting to regret it,
so he decides not to take the medicine. Moments later, Kitai notices his suit has turned black.
Cypher explains it's equipped with motion sensors, and the colour black means there's a life form
coming for him. Suddenly, a large baboon emerges from the woods, and Cypher advises Kitai to stay
still. However Kitai prefers tossing a rock at it to try to scare it away, this causes a whole group
of baboons to come out and begin throwing rocks at Kitai. The boy begins running as fast as possible,
and Cypher guides him toward the nearest river to keep the baboons from following him. Kitai
quickly crosses the river, but even if the baboons aren't following him anymore, he keeps running
with his blade out because he's too nervous and scared. Cypher has to yell at him to make him
stop and take the knee so he'll calm down. At that moment, Cypher notices there are toxins in Kitai's
bloodstream and asks his son to check his body. Kitai discovers he has a leech on his hand and
immediately takes it off, but the toxin is still in his system. Cypher gives him instructions to
inject the antidote, but since he's starting not to feel his hands anymore, Kitai has to drop his
body on the needle to make it stick and falls unconscious. A few hours later, Cypher notices
the temperature is going down and forces Kitai to wake up to find a hotspot, which is ten kilometres
away. Kitai begins running as fast as he can, and while Cypher watches his son, he hears the
computer inform him he needs an arterial shunt to treat his leg. Once again, Cypher refuses to take
the medicine and goes through the procedure while enduring the pain. As he works, he thinks about
Senshi's nineteenth birthday celebration, which he had to watch through a screen because he was on a
mission. Senshi asked him to blow out the candles on her cake, and Cypher only accepted after lots
of begging. The candles went out because younger Kitai blew them for him. When Kitai finally
reaches the hotspot, he checks his equipment and discovers two inhalers are broken, but he lies to
his dad and says he's got them all. Cypher sees a reaction on the screen that may indicate lying,
but doesn't say more. Kitai takes a vial and hides under a tree while it begins to rain,
so he uses the chance to ask his dad how he managed to ghost during the war. Cypher tells
him an Ursa once stabbed him in his shoulder with its pincer and during the struggle, they fell into
the river. The Ursa tried to drown him, but when Cypher accepted his death, the pincer came out
because the Ursa couldn't find him anymore. Cypher had understood that fear wasn't real even if anger
exists, it's only a thing in people's thoughts about the future. The next morning, Cypher sends
Kitai to the waterfall because the probes have found some interesting readings. On his way there,
Kitai sees a pile of dead monkeys, proof of a greater danger. Once Kitai makes it to the falls,
Cypher makes him check his inventory, and Kitai tries to lie about the inhalers again. Cypher
calls out his lie and makes some calculations that indicate Kitai won't be able to finish the mission
without the inhalers, thus he orders him to abort the mission. Kitai begins thinking about how he
had to watch Senshi die and refuses to do that with his dad, so he tells Cypher he won't be a
coward again. In fact, he thinks Cypher is the coward because he hadn't been home to protect
his family when the Ursa attacked. Cypher ignores the jab and insists that Kitai should turn around,
but Kitai ignores him and jumps off the falls, using his suit to glide through the air. At that
moment, a huge condor shows up and begins chasing him, so Kitai tries to steer to hide behind the
waterfalls. However the condor is fast and as soon as Kitai comes out, the bird attacks him.
Kitai falls unconscious and Cypher loses all communication with him. Moments later, Cypher
wakes up in the condor's nest with its chicks. He tries to leave quietly, but suddenly several
lions show up, trying to get inside to eat. The condor attacks the pride, but many of them dodge
it and keep on trying to enter. Kitai manages to throw a lion out, and the condor grabs another,
but when a third lion comes in, Kitai has no choice but to use his blade. He doesn't want to
fight, so instead he cuts a hole in the ground to make the lion fall. Once all the lions are gone,
Kitai leaves the nest, and he's devastated to see the condor mourning the death of all its chicks.
Afterwards, Kitai tries to contact his dad, only to discover his communicator is broken. Back in
the ship, Cypher gets images from his drones showing the bodies of the rangers hanging on
a tree, which means the Ursa is out and about. Cypher decides to record a message for his wife,
simply saying he's lost their son. Meanwhile Kitai keeps travelling through the forest and hides
inside a cave to avoid the night cold. Inside he finds drawings left by the cavemen and many
dangerous serpents that he avoids just in time. He makes some calculations about the distance he has
left and his inventory - the chances aren't good, but he needs to try anyway. The next morning,
Kitai leaves the cave and notices the condor is following him. Thinking it wants to attack,
Kitai begins running away and soon he needs to use his last inhaler. Afterwards,
Kitai builds a small raft to sail down the river. When he takes a nap to rest,
he dreams of Senshi appearing next to him, and he tries telling her that on the day of her death,
he almost left the containment to help her. Senshi doesn't believe him but she doesn't mind,
because she thinks he did the right thing by saving himself. She also thinks Cypher is mad
at himself for what happened. Then Kitai tries to recite Moby Dick to prove he's been reading it,
but Senshi yells at him to wake up. Kitai opens his eyes and discovers the raft has reached land.
The temperature's starting to drop so Kitai rushes to find a hotspot, but he isn't fast enough and
falls unconscious on the ground as the plants surrounding him freeze. Kitai thinks he'll die,
but when he wakes up in the morning, he discovers something on top of him that kept him warm: it
turns out it's the condor, who died to save him as thanks for fighting for its chicks. After thanking
the creature, Kitai continues his journey. It's getting hard to breathe, but finding a piece of
the ship on the ground inspires him to keep going. Moments later, Kitai finally finds the ship's
tail, and he immediately puts his hands on more inhalers and a new blade. Then he investigates the
area and finds the Ursa shell is open, confirming the monster left. Back on the ship, Cypher is
dreaming about little Kitai handing him his own blade. He's suddenly woken up by Kitai's voice
because he's found a communicator and the beacon in the ship's tail. Cypher tries to talk to him,
but Kitai can't hear him because he's in the black zone. Kitai doesn't know this and tries to use the
beacon anyway, but it doesn't work. Frustrated and desperate, Kitai begins throwing a tantrum, but
soon he remembers his father's advice and takes the knee to calm himself down. Kitai realizes
that there's an interference in the area and that climbing the neighbouring volcano should allow him
to activate the beacon without obstructions. On his way to the volcano, Kitai finds the body of
a ranger, with the Ursa left there to scare him and trigger his pheromones. Kitai tries his best
to ignore it and keeps going until he reaches the base of the volcano, where he tries to launch the
beacon again and fails. Cypher notices the Ursa on the scanner and hopes his son acts fast before
he's found. Then Kitai enters a cave to try to find a way to the top of the volcano. Inside he
finds the Ursa waiting for him, and the monster immediately attacks, only to get trapped under a
pile of rocks in the process. Kitai begins running as the Ursa frees itself and chases him, so the
boy decides to hide in a pool of water. Back on the ship, the computer starts failing and Cypher
loses access to the medical treatment, causing him to begin losing consciousness. Meanwhile Kitai
swims toward a source of light that allows him to resurface into a pit. When he starts to climb
it to reach the top of the volcano, the Ursa suddenly jumps out of the water and grabs the
boy's foot. Kitai kicks the beast to send it back into the water then finishes climbing the pit to
come outside. Immediately Kitai tries to activate the beacon, but the Ursa returns and jumps on him,
hitting him on the rocks and making him drop the gadget. As Kitai wiggles on the ground in pain,
he remembers the day Senshi protected him and all the advice Cypher has given him,
allowing Kitai to finally concentrate and overcome his fear, achieving ghosting. The creature loses
track of him and Kitai takes advantage of its confusion to attack it with his blade. Since the
beast can't defend itself, it only takes Kaita a few precise strikes to finally kill it. All this
is seen by Cypher before he loses consciousness for good. Afterwards, Kitai finally fires the
beacon, and in a few hours the rangers arrive to rescue them. Kitai's worried about his dad,
but when he checks on him, he confirms he's fine. Cypher forces his sore body to stand up to salute
his son with respect for his bravery, but Kitai runs to hug his father as he says he wants to
work with his mom. For the first time ever, Cypher hugs back and responds he also wants to retire.