Children of Men - Plot

Plot

In 2027, after 18 years of worldwide female infertility, civilisation is on the brink of collapse as humanity faces the grim reality of extinction. For years the United Kingdom, one of the few stable nations with a functioning government, has been deluged by asylum seekers from around the world, fleeing the chaos and war which has taken hold in most countries. In response Britain has become a militarised police state as British forces round up and detain immigrants. Kidnapped by an immigrants rights group known as "The Fishes", former activist turned cynical bureaucrat Theo Faron (Clive Owen) is brought to its leader, his estranged American wife Julian Taylor (Julianne Moore), from whom he separated after their son died from a flu pandemic in 2008.

Julian offers Theo money to acquire transit papers for a young refugee named Kee (Clare-Hope Ashitey), which Theo obtains from his cousin Nigel (Danny Huston), a government minister. However, the bearer must be accompanied, so Theo agrees to escort Kee in exchange for a larger sum. Luke (Chiwetel Ejiofor), a Fishes member, drives them and former midwife Miriam (Pam Ferris) towards the coast to a boat. They are ambushed by an armed gang and Julian is fatally shot. Luke kills two police officers who stop their car and they escape to a safe house.

Kee reveals her importance to Theo: she is pregnant. Julian had told her to only trust him, intending to hand Kee to the "Human Project", a supposed scientific group in the Azores dedicated to curing infertility. However, Luke persuades Kee to stay. That night, Theo eavesdrops on a meeting of Luke and other members and discovers that Julian's death was orchestrated so the group could use the baby as a political tool to support the coming revolution. Theo wakes Kee and Miriam and they steal a car, escaping to the secluded hideaway of Theo's aging hippie friend Jasper Palmer (Michael Caine), a former editorial cartoonist caring for his wife, a journalist who became catatonic after being tortured by the authorities.

A plan is formulated to board the Human Project ship Tomorrow which will arrive offshore from the Bexhill refugee camp and Jasper proposes getting Syd (Peter Mullan), a camp guard he knows, to smuggle them in. The Fishes trail the group and Jasper stays behind to stall them, giving the government-issued suicide drug Quietus to his catatonic wife. Before escaping with Miriam and Kee, a horrified Theo witnesses the Fishes murder Jasper. Later they meet Syd, who transports them to Bexhill disguised as prisoners. When Kee begins having contractions on a bus, Miriam distracts a suspicious guard and is taken away. That night, Kee gives birth.

The next day, Syd informs Theo and Kee that a war between the British Army and the refugees, including the Fishes, has begun. After seeing the baby, Syd threatens to turn them in, but Theo beats him to death with a car battery and the group escapes. Amidst the fighting, the Fishes capture Kee. Theo tracks her and her baby to an apartment under heavy fire from the military and escorts her out. Awed by the baby, the combatants stop fighting momentarily, enabling them to escape. Marichka leads them to a boat in a sewer, but refuses to join them. Theo rows away, revealing to Kee that he had been shot. As they watch the bombing of Bexhill by the Royal Air Force, Kee tells Theo she will name her baby Dylan after Theo's son. Theo loses consciousness as the Tomorrow approaches through the fog.