In 1964, the United Nations launches a rocket to the Moon, and a multinational crew lands believing they are the first lunar explorers. Their surface finds are humbling: a battered Union Jack and a handwritten note dated roughly 65 years earlier, stamped on the back of a court summons for Kate Callender Martha Hyer from the village of Dymchurch in England. The discovery hints at a hidden past, tying the Moon mission to a much smaller, Earthbound drama that refuses to stay buried.
Back on Earth, authorities uncover that Kate Callender’s widowed husband is still living in a nursing home. The staff keep him from watching television reports of the Moon expedition because, as the matron explains, it “excites him.” When UN officials pressure him, the old man—Arnold Bedford Edward Judd—relates a story that plays out in flashback, a tale that seems almost fantastical until it unfolds with quiet, disorienting clarity.
The tale begins in 1899, in the tranquil seaside village of Cherry Cottage, where Bedford and Kate are deeply involved in a life that looks precarious but hopeful. Bedford appears to be teetering on financial ruin, a situation that Kate tries to shield him from with stubborn loyalty. Their neighbor, the eccentric inventor Joseph Cavor Lionel Jeffries, arrives with a vision that could change everything. He has devised Cavorite, a substance that can negate gravity, and his ambitions extend far beyond the cottage’s fragile future. Cavor’s plan requires space and resources, so he negotiates to buy the cottage, with a smile that promises a brighter horizon if Bedford can sign away what little he has.
Bedford’s worries intensify as Cavor unveils a spherical spaceship and the potential to travel to the Moon. The carrot is gold—suppose there are lunar nuggets waiting—but the real lure is the science that could reshape their world. The tension strains when a boiler accident at Cavor’s workshop—triggered by Gibbs’s absentmindedness—threatens the entire project. Kate arrives with supplies for the journey and, in a pivotal moment, delivers a stark ultimatum: “Cavorite or me.” The sentiment crystallizes their conflicting loyalties, and Bedford and Cavor pull Kate inside the sphere just before liftoff.
The voyage is perilous from the start. The trio crash-lands on the lunar surface, both Bedford and Cavor donning deep-sea breathing gear as they explore a craggy, unfamiliar landscape. A shaft entangles them, revealing breathable air beneath, and they stumble into a vast underground realm populated by the Selenites, insectoid beings who inhabit the moon’s underbelly. The Selenites, who quickly learn English, herd the men and take them to meet their ruler, the Grand Lunar. Bedford, misreading the situation, believes humanity is under judgment, while Cavor remains focused on scientific exchange.
A violent moment tests Bedford’s restraint: during a confrontation, he slaughters several Selenites out of fear, shocking Cavor and souring the initial hopes for peaceful contact. The duo escapes, only to discover that Kate has been dragged into the underground city inside the sphere. They are pursued by a fearsome Moon Bull, a colossal caterpillar-like creature, until Selenite weaponry brings the Beast down. The mood shifts rapidly as the Selenites demonstrate a surprising openness, negotiating with Cavor while Bedford clings to the belief that he is being judged.
Bedford’s fear intensifies when he suspects that Earth’s fate—humanity itself—is being weighed by the Selenites. He attempts to confront the Grand Lunar with an antique elephant gun, but Cavor intervenes, keeping the weapon at bay and insisting on restraint. The moment crystallizes a rift: Bedford feels abandoned by the rational, cool-headed science that dominates Cavor, and the three must eventually decide who will return to Earth and how.
Ultimately, Bedford and Kate return to Earth, claiming they landed off the coast of Zanzibar, their sphere sinking without a trace as they swim to shore. The present-day UN mission watches the broadcast of the lunar explorers as they discover the Selenites’ underground city deserted and in decay. The lunar metropolis begins to crumble, forcing a frantic retreat to the surface. The pundits speculate that the Selenites have fallen to a disease to which they had no immunity, while Bedford recalls that Cavor had a severe cold—an echo of a truth that remains just out of reach.
The film closes on a note of haunting ambiguity. The Moon’s underground civilization has vanished, and the human survivors bear the imprint of a journey that blurs the line between scientific triumph and the cost it exacts on those who dare to dream beyond the sky. The texture of the narrative—part romance, part cautionary fable—lingers, inviting viewers to ponder what is gained and what is lost when curiosity meets the unknown.
