In the year 2169, society has evolved to a point where aging is halted at the 25th birthday, granting individuals just a solitary free year to live. A timer, embedded on their forearm, ticks down the remaining time, and when it hits zero, the individual "times out," facing instantaneous death.
In this world, time functions as the universal currency, exchanged directly between individuals or stored in capsules. The nation is split into Time Zones; the impoverished Dayton serves as a ghetto where inhabitants often struggle to possess more than 24 hours on their timers. Conversely, New Greenwich stands as the epitome of wealth, where the affluent enjoy a quasi-immortal existence.
Within Dayton, factory worker Will Salas resides with his mother Rachel. One fateful night, he rescues a drunken Henry Hamilton from the clutches of the time thief Fortis and his gang, known as the Minutemen. During this encounter, Hamilton discloses a grim reality: the elite of New Greenwich stockpile time while perpetually inflating prices, causing the poor to succumb to a premature fate. In a moment of selflessness, Hamilton transfers all his remaining time to Will, who is asleep, before intentionally timing out—an act that forces Raymond Leon, the head of the Timekeepers, to suspect Will of murder.
Will's friend Borel warns him against the implications of possessing so much time in Dayton. In a bid to aid his friend, Will bestows Borel with ten years, symbolizing their decade-long friendship. Determined, Will sets out to take his mother to New Greenwich, only to suffer the devastating loss of her life as she times out just moments before he can save her through a time transfer. Fueled by grief and the desire for revenge, Will plots to reclaim what the affluent have taken.
At a lavish New Greenwich casino, Will encounters time-loaning tycoon Philippe Weis and his daughter Sylvia. Will engages in a high-stakes poker game, managing to win over a millennium in time, but close to timing out himself. Sylvia subsequently invites him to a glamorous party. However, Leon swiftly apprehends Will and seizes almost all his time, leaving him with merely two hours.
In a desperate act, Will takes Sylvia hostage and escapes to Dayton. Unfortunately, they are ambushed by Fortis's gang, forcing the pair to each settle for only 30 minutes of time. Attempting to reclaim time from Borel, tragedy strikes as Will learns of his friend’s demise due to excessive drinking. Through pawning Sylvia's earrings, they manage to secure an additional day of time, and Will demands that Weis pay a 1,000-year ransom to aid the people of Dayton in exchange for Sylvia's safety. When Weis declines, Will unexpectedly releases Sylvia just as Leon catches up with them. In a twist, Sylvia shoots Leon, allowing Will to provide him just enough time to ensure his survival until reinforcements arrive.
Together, Will and Sylvia embark on a mission, robbing her father's time banks and distributing time capsules to the destitute. Caught in a harsh realization, they discover that their actions only foster an environment where prices skyrocket to negate the impact of the newfound time share. Their endeavors take a violent turn when Fortis’s gang returns to collect the bounty on them, leading Will to eliminate both Fortis and his followers. In the daring act of stealing a one-million-year time capsule from her father's vault, they inadvertently draw Leon's pursuit back to Dayton, though he is unable to thwart their efforts to distribute the stolen time. In a dramatic turn of events, Leon ultimately times out after neglecting to collect his wages for the day.
As news channels broadcast the collapse of factories in Dayton—where citizens now enjoy ample time to leave their jobs—a conflicted Leon's partner, Jaeger, commands the Timekeepers to retreat. Meanwhile, Will and Sylvia press on, targeting larger banks in their relentless quest to destabilize the rigid system that governs their society.
