In a futuristic 21st-century era, crop blight on Earth has made farming increasingly difficult and threatens humanity's survival. Joseph Cooper (McConaughey), a widowed former NASA pilot, runs a farm with his father-in-law, son, and daughter Murphy, who believes her bedroom is haunted by a poltergeist. When a pattern is created out of dust on the floor, Cooper realizes that gravity is behind its formation, not a "ghost". He interprets the pattern as a set of geographic coordinates formed into binary code. Cooper and Murphy follow them to a secret NASA facility, where they are met by Cooper's former professor Dr. Brand (Caine).