Waterworld - Plot

Plot

In the future, the polar ice caps have melted, and the sea level has risen hundreds of meters, covering every continent. Human population has been scattered across the ocean in individual, isolated communities consisting of artificial islands and mostly decrepit sea vessels.

An antihero drifter known only as "the Mariner", sails the seas in his trimaran. He enters an artificial atoll seeking to trade dirt, which is a precious commodity. It is later revealed that he is a mutant with webbed feet and gills, an evolutionary step to accommodate the changes in climate. The fearful atollers vote to "recycle" him by drowning him in a yellow sludge brine pool. At that moment pirates, known as "Smokers", raid the atoll, having been tipped off by a Smoker spy posing as a trader, known as "the Nord".

The Smokers are searching for an orphan girl named Enola, who has what appears to be a map and directions to Dryland tattooed on her back. The girl and her guardian, Helen, the atoll's shopkeeper, plan to escape with Gregor, the atoll's expert inventor, in the hopes of finding Dryland. Unfortunately, Gregor's escape method, a hot air balloon made of old rags, launches too early with him on it, leaving Helen and Enola stranded. They instead escape with the Mariner, who agrees to take them with him because they saved his life, though he is ill at ease with their company, as he prefers solitude, and finds them to be a nuisance. Chasing them is "the Deacon", who is the captain of a derelict oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez and the leader of the Smokers. He wants the map to Dryland and has a number of skirmishes with the Mariner while trying to get Enola. After Helen's naive actions during a battle with the Smokers results in significant damage to the Mariner's boat, he angrily cuts their hair very short. After this incident, the Mariner gradually warms up to them and teaches Enola to swim.

Helen, convinced that Dryland exists, demands to know where the Mariner finds his dirt. The Mariner, able to breathe underwater, puts her in a diving bell and swims down to the ruins of Denver, where he collects the dirt and other items from the bottom of the sea for trade. While they are underwater, the Deacon and his Smokers board the boat, burn it and capture Enola, while the Mariner and Helen barely escape. Since Helen cannot breathe underwater, the Mariner breathes for the both of them, resulting in an underwater kiss of life. They resurface and board the wreckage of the Mariner's trimaran, where they are later rescued by Gregor. He takes them to a new makeshift atoll where the survivors of the first atoll attack have regrouped.

Using a jet ski, the Mariner chases down the Exxon Valdez and boards it. There, the Deacon is having a celebration, tossing gifts of cigarettes and Smeat (a Spam-like canned meat) to the crew, proclaiming they have found the map to Dryland. After they have all gone below decks to row, the Mariner walks out onto the deck and threatens to drop a flare into the oil reserves unless the Deacon releases Enola. The Deacon, believing that the Mariner is bluffing, refuses, so the Mariner drops the flare into a vent of the oil reserve tank. The ship explodes, and the Mariner escapes with Enola by climbing a rope up to Gregor's balloon. The Deacon, still alive, makes a grab for Enola, but Helen throws a metal object which strikes him in the forehead, causing him to fall into the water. He pulls out his pistol and shoots at the balloon, hitting one of the lines, causing Enola to fall into the sea. The Deacon and two other Smokers, all on jet skis, converge on Enola. The Mariner ties a bungee cord around his ankle and jumps down to grab Enola, pulling her out of the water just as the jet skis collide and explode.

Gregor deciphers the map, translating the Asian symbols using an old and tattered China Airlines magazine. He realizes that they are latitude and longitude coordinates, and steers his balloon in that direction. The group finds Dryland, which turns out to be the peak of Mount Everest, still above sea level. Gregor, Enola, Helen and the others land on the island and find the skeletons of Enola's parents. They begin civilization anew on the island, but the Mariner decides he must leave. Enola, saddened to hear the Mariner is going, asks why. He explains that he does not belong on land, and that the ocean, his only home, calls to him. He builds a new wooden boat on the beach and sails off.