Trama

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

On the day of James T. Kirk's birth, his father dies on his damaged starship in a last stand against a Romulan mining vessel looking for Ambassador Spock, who in this time, has grown on Vulcan disdained by his neighbors for his half-human heritage. 25 years later, James T. Kirk has grown into a young rebellious troublemaker. Challenged by Captain Christopher Pike to realize his potential in Starfleet, he comes to annoy academy instructors like Commander Spock. Suddenly, there is an emergency on Vulcan and the newly-commissioned USS Enterprise is crewed with promising cadets like Nyota Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov and even Kirk himself, thanks to Leonard McCoy's medical trickery. Together, this crew will have an adventure in the final frontier where the old legend is altered forever as a new version of the legend begins.—Paramount Pictures

When a Romulan mining vessel attacks the USS Kelvin, Lt. George Kirk substitutes his captain, who goes to meet the Romulan captain on his vessel to negotiate a ceasefire. He orders the evacuation of the damaged starship, including his wife who goes into labor giving birth to their son James Kirk, and crashes the Kelvin against the vessel. Aboard the USS Enterprise, the most sophisticated starship ever constructed, a novice crew embarks on its maiden voyage. Their path takes them on a collision course with Nero, the Romulan captain from the future whose mission of vengeance threatens the Federation. Once humanity would survive, rebellious young officer James T. Kirk and coolly logical Vulcan officer Spock must move beyond their rivalry and find a way to stop Nero before he destroys Earth.—Blazer346

In 2233, the Federation starship USS Kelvin is investigating a "lightning storm" in space. A Romulan ship, the Narada, emerges from the storm and attacks the Kelvin leaving her defenseless. The Narada's first officer, Ayel (Clifton Collins Jr.), demands that the Kelvin's captain Richard Robau (Faran Tahir) come aboard to negotiate a truce. Robau is questioned about the current stardate and an "Ambassador Spock", whom he does not recognize. The Narada's commander, Nero (Eric Bana), kills him, and resumes attacking the Kelvin. George Kirk (Chris Hemsworth), the Kelvin's first officer, orders the ship's personnel, including his pregnant wife Winona (Jennifer Morrison), to abandon ship while he pilots the Kelvin on a collision course with the Narada. Kirk sacrifices his life to ensure Winona's survival as she gives birth to James Tiberius Kirk (Chris Pine).

17 years later on the planet Vulcan, a young Spock (Zachary Quinto) is accepted to join the Vulcan Science Academy. He has always been taunted as a half human, half Vulcan by his peers and dislikes references to his human mother in anyway. Realizing that the Academy views his human mother, Amanda (Winona Ryder), as a "disadvantage", he joins Starfleet instead. On Earth, Kirk becomes a reckless but intelligent young adult. Following a barfight with Starfleet cadets attending Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana), Kirk meets Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood), who encourages him to enlist in Starfleet Academy ("Your father was the captain of a starship for 12 mins and saved 800 lives. I dare you to do better."), where Kirk meets and makes friends with Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban). (He lost everything in the divorce, except the bones in his body.)

Three years later, Commander Spock accuses Kirk of cheating during the Kobayashi Maru simulation. The simulation required cadet captains to face death and protect the crew in a no win scenario, but Kirk cheats and inserts a sub routine to change the scenario and beat it. Kirk argues that cheating was acceptable because the simulation was designed to be unbeatable. Spock argues that Kirk not only cheated but failed to get the most important learning of the simulation that a captain cannot cheat death.

The disciplinary hearing is interrupted by a distress signal from Vulcan. With the primary fleet out of range, the cadets are mobilized, with McCoy and Kirk boarding Pike's ship (Kirk is grounded on account of his academic suspension, but McCoy argues that Kirk is his patient and he won't leave for the mission unless he is allowed to bring Kirk along), the Enterprise. Spock considers Uhura as his favorite student and assigns her to the Enterprise. The Enterprise is a few minutes late in departing as the new helmsman Hikaru Suku (John Cho) and Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin) had not released the external inertial dampener and hence the warp drive did not engage.

Realizing that the "lightning storm" observed near Vulcan (shortly after which Vulcan was attacked by a Romulan ship and sent a distress signal to Earth) is similar to the one that occurred when he was born, Kirk breaks protocol to convince Pike that the distress signal is a trap. When the Enterprise arrives, they find the fleet destroyed and Narada drilling into Vulcan's core. Narada attacks Enterprise and Pike surrenders, delegating command of the ship to Spock and promoting Kirk to first officer. Kirk, Sulu, and Chief Engineer Olson (Greg Ellis) perform a space jump onto the drilling platform. While Olson is killed mid-jump, Kirk and Sulu successfully reach and disable the drill, but are unable to stop Nero launching "red matter" into Vulcan's core, forming an artificial black hole that destroys Vulcan. The Enterprise manages to rescue Spock's father, Sarek (Ben Cross), and the high council before Vulcan's destruction, but not his mother Amanda (Winona Ryder), who falls to her death before the transporter can properly lock onto her.

As the Narada moves toward Earth, Nero tortures Pike to gain access to Earth's defense codes. Nero declares his intention to destroy all Federation planets, starting from Earth. Uhura is shown to have romantic feelings towards Spock. Spock deduces that the Narada is from the future and has used the black hole technology to create a passage through space time. Nero's presence, beginning with the attack on USS Kelvin has altered the flow of history and created an alternate reality. While in pursuit, Spock maroons Kirk on Delta Vega after he attempts mutiny (Kirk wanted to pursue Nero and the Narada, while Spock wants to meet up with the rest of Starfleet in the Laurentian system, as per orders from Captain Pike).

On the planet, Kirk encounters an older Spock (from the original timeline) (Leonard Nimoy), who explains that he and Nero are from 2387. In the future, Romulus was threatened by a supernova, which Spock attempted to stop with an artificial black hole made of "red matter". His plan failed, resulting in Nero's family perishing along with Romulus, while both the Narada and Spock's vessel were caught in the black hole and sent back in time. Spock quickly found they were sent back 25 years apart, during which time Nero attacked the Kelvin, thus changing history and creating a parallel universe. After Spock's arrival, Nero stranded him on Delta Vega to watch Vulcan's destruction as revenge. Reaching a Starfleet outpost on Delta Vega, Kirk and the elder Spock meet Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (Simon Pegg), who helps them by devising a trans-warp beam system, allowing both him and Kirk to beam onto Enterprise while it is travelling at warp speed.

Following the elder Spock's advice, Kirk provokes younger Spock into attacking him, forcing Spock to recognize himself as emotionally compromised and relinquish command to Kirk. After talking with Sarek, Spock decides to help Kirk. While Enterprise hides itself within the gas clouds of Titan, Kirk and Spock beam aboard the Narada (Uhura reveals her first name is Nyota to Spock). Kirk fights with Nero and Ayel, killing the latter and rescuing Pike, while Spock uses the elder Spock's ship to destroy the drill. Spock leads the Narada away from Earth and sets his ship to collide with Nero's ship. The Enterprise beams Kirk, Pike and Spock aboard. The older Spock's ship and Narada collide, igniting the "red matter". Kirk offers Nero help to escape, but Nero refuses, prompting Kirk to give the order to fire, dooming the Narada to be consumed in a black hole that the Enterprise is only barely able to escape.

Kirk is promoted to captain and given command of the Enterprise, while Pike is promoted to rear admiral and recovering in a wheelchair. Spock encounters his older self, who persuades his younger self to continue serving in Starfleet, encouraging him to do, for once, what feels right instead of what is logical. Spock remains in Starfleet, becoming first officer under Kirk's command. The Enterprise goes to warp as the elder Spock speaks the "where no one has gone before" monologue.