In a dystopian future where crop blight has reduced humanity to a struggling agrarian society, former NASA pilot Cooper is trying to sustain his family on their farm. The world’s reliance on farming has surged, and misinformation about the past—specifically, that NASA's Apollo missions were staged to bankrupt the Soviets—pains Cooper deeply. His daughter, Murphy, a bright ten-year-old, believes that their home is disturbed by a ghost attempting to reach out to her. Through a series of events, they uncover that this "ghost" is an unknown intelligence relaying coded messages via gravitational waves. The coordinates lead them to a secret NASA base, where Professor Brand reveals a dire truth: as climate conditions worsen, crops perish annually, and humanity faces the grim prospect of extinction.
Brand speaks of a wormhole, a phenomenon created by an alien intelligence, discovered 48 years ago, which opens a path to potential new worlds. NASA’s "Lazarus missions" have identified three possible habitable planets around the black hole Gargantua: Miller, Edmunds, and Mann. Initially, a dozen astronauts were dispatched to explore twelve worlds, equipped with technology to hibernate for decades while transmitting valuable data back to Earth. However, without resources, a rescue mission for planets deemed uninhabitable was never an option. Brand recruits Cooper to pilot the spacecraft Endurance, tasked with retrieving data from these three planets to ascertain if any could support human life. As a backup—a "Plan B"—the plan involves sending 5000 human embryos to the new world, hoping to establish a colony.
The emotional farewell with Murphy leaves Cooper's heart heavy. Alongside him on the Endurance are Amelia, Brand’s daughter, and scientists Romilly and Doyle, along with robots TARS and CASE. Amelia has much admiration for Mann, the leader of the original expedition, and holds hope for his findings.
Upon approaching Miller, the team encounters a stark reality: the planet, situated dangerously close to Gargantua, experiences intense gravitational time dilation, where one hour equates to seven years on Earth. A perilous descent into the planet reveals harsh conditions, and after a tragic tidal wave, they suffer tremendous losses. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Murphy grows and works with the aged Brand, who is consumed with solving the gravity equation crucial for humanity’s survival.
As plans evolve, Murphy, now played by Jessica Chastain, strives to complete the gravity equation while grappling with the heavy burden of her father’s departure. On Endurance, amid dwindling fuel supplies, the crew decides to explore Mann's planet, despite Amelia's warning that her choice of Edmunds showed signs of organic life. Upon arrival, they discover Mann's planet to be icy and inhospitable. It becomes apparent that Mann has deceived them, manipulating data for personal gain. In a dramatic confrontation, Mann attempts to eliminate Cooper and ensure his own rescue.
Navigating treacherous circumstances and gravely reduced time, Amelia rescues Cooper, but they face catastrophic events as Mann's sabotage spirals out of control, wrecking their ship. With only one chance left, they plot a slingshot maneuver around Gargantua, sacrificing themselves to collect invaluable data from the black hole while sending Amelia toward Edmunds.
Cooper’s journey leads him into a surreal extra-dimensional space—a "tesseract"—where time manifests as a physical dimension. Here, he can interact with memories of Murphy’s room at various childhood stages, realizing that the alien beings aiding him are advanced forms of human descendants. By using gravitational wave signals, Cooper embeds crucial data within Murphy's watch, empowering her to solve the equation and promote humanity's exodus from Earth.
Ultimately, Cooper awakens within a NASA station by Saturn, reuniting with an elderly Murphy, Ellen Burstyn, who has facilitated humanity’s survival. As she encourages him to find Amelia and CASE, who are establishing their new world, Cooper steels himself for the pursuit of hope amidst calamity.
