Back to the 2015 Future

Marty McFly lives in a fractured 1985 Hill Valley. His mother Lorraine struggles with alcoholism, his siblings drift without purpose, and his father George is bullied by Biff Tannen. After a failed music audition, Marty confesses his fears about becoming like his parents.

That night, Marty encounters Doc Brown in a dimly lit Twin Pines Mall parking lot and learns of a time machine built into a DeLorean powered by plutonium. They set a destination for November 5, 1955—the day Doc conceived his invention. But trouble erupts when Libyan terrorists track them down and gun Doc down, forcing Marty to flee in the DeLorean.

Marty arrives in Hill Valley in 1955 with no plutonium to power a return trip. He navigates a younger town and unexpectedly meets his teenage father George, learning that Biff’s influence is already at work. A car nearly hits George while he’s spying on Lorraine, and Marty is knocked unconscious.

Marty awakens to Lorraine tending to him and, confusingly, becoming infatuated with him, which threatens the future marriage he should have with his mother. Realizing that altering the timeline could erase his own existence, he seeks out a younger Doc to figure out a fix. The two begin grappling with the consequences of changing history.

Doc explains that returning to 1985 will require generating 1.21 gigawatts of power via a lightning strike at the courthouse. Marty shows Doc a flyer from the future detailing the strike, and Doc realizes the stakes as their actions could ripple through time. They prepare to capitalize on a celestial event to power their escape.

To spur George into acting as protector, Marty plans to appear as if he is pursuing Lorraine at the upcoming high school dance. However, Biff’s gang traps Marty in the trunk of the band’s car and makes a brutal attempt to assault Lorraine, forcing the plan to proceed under danger.

George arrives just in time, defeats Biff, and escorts Lorraine to the dance. The band frees Marty, who steps in as lead guitarist despite an injured hand, and George and Lorraine share their first kiss, suggesting a restoration of the future if they can keep it together.

Doc discovers a note from Marty warning about the consequences of altering the future and rips it up, fearing the potential havoc it could unleash. The act signals Doc’s intent to protect the fragile plan and proceed with their limited-time window.

Marty recalibrates the DeLorean to return ten minutes before he originally left for the future. The courthouse lightning strike propels him back toward 1985, but the DeLorean falters and he must sprint back to the mall. He arrives just as Doc is being shot, setting up the final rescue attempt.

Doc reveals that he found and reassembled Marty’s note and is wearing a bulletproof vest. After Marty returns home, they decide to depart again for 2015 to safeguard their future. The brief reunion ends with Doc heading off in the DeLorean to continue time-travel adventures.

Marty wakes up the next morning in a redefined 1985 where his father is a confident, successful science-fiction author, his mother is fit and happy, and his siblings are thriving. Biff is now a servile valet, a stark reversal from his former bully status. Reunited with Jennifer, Marty begins to grasp how deeply the altered life has changed him.

Doc reappears and urges Marty and Jennifer to return with him to the future to safeguard their children from looming fates. The call to action hints at further adventures and the precarious balance of their new timelines. The trio steels themselves for another journey through time.