Project Almanac

In 2014, David Raskin, a 17-year-old high school senior, receives the life-changing news that he has been accepted to MIT. However, excitement quickly turns to despair as he realizes his family cannot afford the tuition fees.

David learns that his mother, Kathy Raskin, plans to sell their family home, intensifying his urgency to find a way to fund his education. The looming prospect of losing his childhood home adds emotional weight to David's dilemma.

Determined to find a solution, David enlists the help of his sister Christina and friends Adam and Quinn. They rummage through their deceased father's belongings, hoping to discover something valuable that could change their circumstances.

During their search, David uncovers an old video from his childhood birthday party. In a surprising twist, he notices a reflection of his 17-year-old self reaching for a basement light switch, revealing a clue that leads him to the basement.

Breaking the rules, David and his friends enter the basement, where they discover Project Almanac, a blueprint for a temporal relocation device left behind by his father, Ben. Inspired by this revelation, they decide to construct a functional time machine.

The group uses a car battery from David's crush, Jessie, to power their time machine for their first experiment. They attempt to send a toy car back in time, but the resulting malfunction causes a massive blackout in the neighborhood.

Intrigued by the sudden blackout, Jessie becomes aware of David and his friends' activities. They invite her to join their time-traveling exploits, further complicating their experiments as romantic tensions arise between David and Jessie.

David and his friends decide to travel back a day, leading to chaotic events, including Quinn’s mischievous act of drawing a smiley face on his past self. This seemingly harmless act starts a feedback loop that threatens their existence.

Ignoring the potential dangers, the group begins using the time machine for selfish personal gains. Adam wins the lottery, Christina stands up to her bullies, and Quinn improves his grades, but at what cost?

As David navigates his growing feelings for Jessie, a critical mistake sends him back to a pivotal event at Lollapalooza. This erroneous time travel triggers disastrous changes in the timeline with far-reaching consequences.

Desperate to rectify the catastrophic changes to the timeline, David attempts to fix his earlier mistakes. However, an accidental twist leaves Jessie trapped in a past reality, intensifying the threat to their existence.

In a climactic struggle, David returns to his seventh birthday to warn his father about the dangers of the time machine. In a selfless act, he destroys key components of the machine, leading to his own disappearance.

After David's disappearance, Christina and David's family explore their father's belongings and find remnants of his old camera. The footage they discover serves as a bittersweet reminder of their time-traveling adventures and the sacrifices made.

With David's sacrifice lingering in their hearts, Christina and Jessie are left with newfound wisdom. As they embark on their journey again, David prepares to approach Jessie with the insight to make better choices and achieve their dreams.