Plot

Enemy Mine opens to a panorama of outer space along with an opening monologue by Willis Davidge (Dennis Quaid). In this monologue he says that all of Earth's nations had achieved peace by the end of the 21st century, and had begun working together to explore and colonize outer space. Unfortunately, Earth wasn't alone out there. Earth colonists encountered a race of alien non humanoids known as the Dracs, were laying claim to some of the richest star systems in the galaxy. Dispute over who was where, first, and who had 'legal right' to where, led to battle and finally war between Earth and the drac people.

The scene shifts to an Earth space station out in space, far from the Solar System. Four Drac fighter ships approach to begin a raid. Earth's fighter pilots scramble to defend the station; among them are Davidge and his co-pilot, Joey Wooster (Lance Kerwin). The dogfight appears to be going well for the Earth defenders until six Drac fighter ships arrive to join the battle. One of the Drac fighters destroys an Earth fighter, Echo Six, killing its two pilots. Infuriated, Davidge recklessly pursues this Drac ship away from the rest of the battle, but this Drac pilot proves to be an ace flier, deftly dodging several laser volleys. Wooster tries to warn Davidge that their ship's engines are overheating and they are closing over the planet Fyrine IV, which is unexplored territory. But David is obsessed with destroying the Drac ship and its pilot. Finally he scores a hit to the Drac ship's wing, damaging it but not destroying it. Completely single-minded now, Davidge continues pursuing the Drac ship into the upper atmosphere of Fyrine IV. He sees the Drac pilot eject from its ship, and then loses sight of both pilot and ship in the thick fog of the upper atmosphere. Finally the fog cloud breaks to show the abandoned Drac fighter ship directly in front of Davidge's ship. With no time to move, he collides with the Drac ship, damaging his own ship to where he must make a crash landing of his own on Fyrine IV's surface. Davidge is able to pull Wooster free from the wreck, but his ship explodes, leaving him unable to salvage any of its supplies... and Wooster is too gravely injured to save.

Davidge builds a barrow of stones over Wooster's body and sets Wooster's broken helmet on it as a grave marker. He's spotted where the Drac ship's wreckage went down and is sure the escape pod with the Drac pilot is near it. As he sets off to kill the Drac, Davidge gives a voiceover where he says he's never seen one of their race before, knowing very little about their physiology-- only that they are reptilian and scaly, and that they are hermaphroditic-- they have both male and female body parts.

A strange turtle-like creature emerges from some rocks as Davidge passes them, and makes its way across the ground. It falls into a shallow sinkhole of loose sand; still deep enough that it cannot make its way out. A long tendril snakes out of the bottom of the sinkhole, feeling the air for vibrations and smells. It draws back and latches onto the creature's shell, pulling it down below the sand. Some horrible noises are heard as the sand at the bottom of the sinkhole continues to churn. Suddenly the turtle-creature's bloody shell is spat out of the sinkhole where it joins many other similar shells around the sinkhole's edges, and a monstrous belching sound is heard.

Davidge makes his way to a lake where he finds the Drac pilot (Louis Gossett Jr.) swimming in the lake. It emerges from the water to squat by a campfire. Davidge moves closer to make the kill, but as he aims his pistol, a small rock outcropping under his boot gives way. He barely holds onto the rocks, but his gun falls from his hand to drop into the lake below, and the noise alerts the Drac pilot. Although reptilian and clearly non-human, the Drac still appears to have the same basic body structure, with two arms and two legs, standing erect, and its hands have opposable thumbs, although only two other fingers for a total of three on each hand.

Davidge remains stone still and waits until nightfall. The Drac puts its rifle on the bulkhead of its wrecked spacecraft and dives into the lake to swim again. Pulling a utility knife, Davidge hurries to the ship's wreckage. Finding a container of what is apparently a combustible fuel, he pours it onto the lake's surface and ignites it with a flare. Laughing maniacally at the thought that the Drac must be burning, he reaches for its rifle. Suddenly his own body is gripped in convulsions; the Drac had placed the weapon in direct contact with the ship's exposed circuitry as a precaution. Kicking Davidge away from the ship and the weapon, the Drac stands over him and gives a gloating greeting.

The Drac ties Davidge's hands and feet together and seats him near the ship while it eats. Seeing that the Drac has chosen not to kill him for now, but still full of hate and anger toward it, Davidge demands that the Drac give him something to eat. It mockingly copies a lip-smacking motion that Davidge makes in an attempt to communicate. Even though they speak different languages, when Davidge yells the insult 'toadface' at the Drac, it suddenly stands up and walks over to Davidge, squatting over him. It asks a question in its native tongue, jabbing Davidge with a finger. When the Drac speaks the phrase, 'kos va son Jeriba Shigan-- Shiiigaaaann!,' Davidge realizes that the Drac has just told him its name: Jeriba Shigan. He understands the Drac wants to know his name in return and gives the Drac his name as Willis Davidge. He again demands some food, and the Drac skewers a disgusting-looking slug like creature on a stick. As horrible as the slug looks and, Davidge imagines, must taste, he is so ravenous with hunger that he suddenly leans forward, bites off a piece of the slug, and forces himself to chew and swallow, much to the Drac's disgust.

Later still, the Drac is sleeping while Davidge tries to in his uncomfortable position. A meteorite strikes the ground near him, and suddenly the sky is alight with a meteor shower. Davidge's frightened shouts awaken the Drac, who utters the word 'zeerki' in its native tongue. It starts to run for the cave, pauses, and cuts Davidge's feet free so he can follow it into a nearby cave for shelter. The Drac falls asleep again, and Davidge manages to free his hands on some of the rocks in the cave. He takes the knife and appears ready to kill the Drac, but as he looks on its face while it sleeps, he cannot bring himself to do the deed. He goes to the Drac's ship and finds several containers of emergency food supplies. The food pellets look, smell, and taste absolutely horrendous to Davidge's human sense of taste, but he forces one of the pellets down. Suddenly he is knocked down from behind and the Drac makes a menacing noise, holding its rifle on Davidge. Using gestures and body language in an attempt to make his human language intelligible, Davidge manages to convey that the two of them need to gather up whatever supplies they can from the wreckage and find a place to build a suitable shelter, or else they will most likely die in the next meteor shower.

The Drac makes Davidge carry most of the salvagable supplies so it can keep its rifle at the ready. They find a clearing where Davidge builds a hut as best he can. During this time, both he and the Drac manage to learn a little of each other's languages: the Drac tells him the shelter isn't solid. Davidge lightly kicks the inside door frame and laughs--but it's the Drac that has the last laugh when the shelter suddenly collapses.

The two are at a campfire where the Drac is learning more of the human tongue. Davidge has begun calling the Drac 'Jerry,' a contraction of Jeriba, even though Drac names are spoken surname-first and Jerry's given first name is Shigan. During the conversation, Davidge mentions an Earth saying that Jerry seems somewhat familiar with, and Jerry asks if he learned it from the great Drac teacher, Shismar. Davidge sarcastically says he learned it from Mickey Mouse, but Jerry takes him seriously, deciding that Mickey Mouse must be a great human teacher.

Davidge is carrying more supplies from the wreckage to the campfire when he happens to spot one of the turtle-like creatures. He grabs at it, but it scuttles away very quickly; although this creature has a turtle-like shell, the rest of its body is decidedly different and it moves quite rapidly when it chooses.

At the camp, Davidge cooks another of the slug-like creatures while Jerry appears to be praying and meditating; a small tome attached to a chain which Jerry often wears around his neck, open before him. The book is called the Talman, and it is the Drac people's sacred book, much like the human bible. Davidge has constructed a bow and arrows with which he hopes to procure better food sources, but Jerry feels that they will be rescued soon. An argument soon arises over their respective people's sacred teachers and which race started the war, ending when Davidge insults Shismar in a grievous way. Jerry retaliates by calling Mickey Mouse a 'great big stupid dope,' and it is all Davidge can do to stop himself from busting out laughing.

Davidge is hunting the next day and looses an arrow right into the head of one of the turtle like creatures. Though badly wounded, it is still able to move. Davidge chases it--and falls into the pit of loose sand. He watches in horror as the long pink tendril emerges and feels the air for scents and air vibrations. It looms very close, unfamiliar with Davidge's scent. But finally it rears back and coils around his leg. Davidge screams in horror, gripping a broken piece of a tree that sticks over the edge of the pit. Jerry hears his screams and comes running. The tendril constricts Davidge's leg, and the rough edges of the tip of it lacerates his flesh. His grip breaks and he's about to be dragged into the bottom of the pit when Jerry catches his hand and fires his rifle, severing the tendril. There is a great churning from the sand at the bottom of the pit and great roaring noises before the terrible head of the creature to whom the tendril (its tongue) belonged emerges, spreading a gaping maw full of sharp teeth. Jerry fires again, sending several blasts into the creature's head and destroying it.

Back at camp, Jerry cauterizes and wraps up Davidge's wound. Davidge asks why Jerry saved his life, and Jerry says he needed to look at another face, even if it was Davidge's. Jerry naturally finds humans as ugly (in comparison to Dracs) as Davidge must consider Dracs to be in comparison to humans. But, the terrible creature in the sand pit was worse, to both of them.

Davidge's hand happens to fall on one of the discarded shells. He realizes that the sand-pit creature couldn't bite through them, and the shells might even be able to repel meteors, and their light weight makes them perfect for a shelter. He sets about collecting discarded shells from around the pit and from other turtle-like creatures he's killed for food, and builds a secure shelter.

Jerry is reading his Talman again. Davidge decides, to pass the time, if he could learn the Drac language from Jerry so he can learn some of Shismar's philosophies. Jerry feels that the insult Davidge rendered to Shismar makes him beneath such an undertaking. Davidge promptly calls Jerry out on being a hypocrite, as it had promptly insulted Mickey Mouse in return. But Jerry quickly apologizes for this, saying it was wrong and didn't mean it. Davidge offers the same apology in return, and Jerry hangs the Talman on the chain around Davidge's neck--on becoming a tutor, the book, according to his people, must be given to the student.

Davidge gives a voiceover among a short montage of scenes showing how time passes, and he and Jerry continue to eke out an existence on the hostile world. They eat, they sleep, they study the Talman, and at night Davidge sometimes dreams of a rescue--he's awakened one night thinking he's heard the sound of a ship's engines and barely catches a glimpse of ship lights. But on looking outside the shelter, he cannot find anything.

Davidge is reading a passage of the Talman aloud as Jerry listens. Jerry is not at all surprised when Davidge says the passage is something he's read in the human version of the book (the Bible), saying simply, 'truth is truth.' It says, however, that Shismar's words take on new meaning when sung. Jerry begins to sing another passage, when suddenly another meteor shower strikes, and the two of them must hurry to their shelter.

Jerry moves noticeably slower and even seems to stumble once or twice as they hurry to the shelter. Worry over how Jerry could have been hurt leads Davidge to carelessly make a remark referring to the human vs. Drac war. Jerry quickly becomes defensive, and a heated argument erupts that escalates into a physical altercation. Afterward, they both lay exhausted on the ground inside the hut, and Davidge realizes that he and Jerry are starting to go crazy from the isolation and struggle to survive.

Davidge finally decides to set out and explore more of the planet in hopes of locating the source of the sounds and lights he still believes he's heard and seen. Jerry, believing they are alone on the planet, declines to go along. Davidge can tell something is amiss with Jerry, but the Drac doesn't discuss it. Davidge promises to return when he's satisfied his need to investigate. If he cannot return, he and Jerry will probably both die.

Davidge heads out toward the glow of a lake of molten lava. He's originally elated and whoops in pure delight at the site of a temporary core sampling camp and two empty bottles of Pepsi-Cola. He finds a large pile of junk metal, proof of a mining operation on the planet. But Davidge's joy is short lived as he finds a dire and terrible discovery among this junk heap: the skull of a Drac, with a human bullet hole in the front... proving the Drac to whom the skull belonged, was killed by a gunshot to its brain.

Davidge gives a voiceover amid scenes where he grimly confirms what he now knows: the planet is being used by scavengers, outlaw human miners and pirates living at the darkest underbelly of human society. They strip and rape entire planets bare of their resources looking for precious ores and metals. Earth's military tolerates them-- barely-- because they kidnap Dracs for slave labor for their mining operations. It was a scavenger ship he had heard and seen. These scavengers would kill Davidge as soon as look at him, both for his being part of Earth's defense militia as well as engaging in any kind of cooperation with a Drac.

Davidge returns to Jerry at the shelter. Winter has fallen on Fyrine IV. Jerry is pleased to see Davidge, and finally reveals what has been amiss with it, and the true reason it couldn't go with Davidge. Jerry is pregnant, preparing to give birth to a baby Drac. Jerry reminds Davidge that unlike humans, the Drac people are hermaphroditic, and they reproduce automatically 'when it is time--' procreation among the Dracs is not something that only happens through deliberate choice, as it is with humans.

Jerry asks Davidge if he found what he was looking for. Davidge had been wrestling throughout the trip back on what to tell Jerry. Finally deciding he can't share his findings about the scavengers and the danger they represent, Davidge finally tells Jerry that he found nothing-- as Jerry believed, the two of them are alone on Fyrine IV.

More time passes, and Jerry is sewing a garment for its child. When asked by Davidge if it's picked a name out for the Drac baby, Jerry says the baby's name will be Zammis.

Davidge and Jerry are asleep in their shelter. Suddenly the ground beside them begins to shift, and a small sinkhole begins to appear-- another of the sand-pit creatures has been moving underground and found them. The creature's long tongue slithers out from the sand and tastes the air. The tongue wraps around Jerry's neck, choking him so he cannot yell, and begins to drag it toward the creature's gaping jaws. Jerry thrashes and kicks about in desperation. Slowly Davidge begins to awaken and suddenly snaps to full alertness. Without hesitating or thinking, he turns to the smoldering remains of the campfire, scoops up a large double handful of the white-hot coals in his bare hands and tosses them down the sand-pit creature's throat. The creature lets go of Jerry and thrashes about in agony, wrecking the shelter. Hurrying away from the terrible monster before it can recover, Davidge and Jerry hurry to find a new, more natural shelter from both the creature and the bitter cold and driving snow and wind.

In an effort to keep both of them focused, Davidge asks Jerry to tell him about the name it chose for its baby. Jerry explains that unlike humans, each Drac family cycles through five names continuously; the names themselves mean nothing, but it is the deeds each Drac achieves throughout its lifetime that matter and must be remembered. Jerry's clan, the Jeriba family, cycles through the names Ty, Islane, Gothig, Shigan, and Zammis. As Jerry's given name is Shigan, its baby is to be called Zammis, and then the cycle would begin again with another Jeriba Ty.

Jerry and Davidge manage to find a natural rock cave leading deep into the ground that will provide them warmth and shelter. As they collapse on the ground to sleep again, Jerry says that a Drac child does not completely join its family or the society of Drac people until it is brought by its parent before the holy council of Dracs on their home planet of Dracon, and the family lineage recited. Jerry will need to do this for Zammis, or the great lineage of Jeriba will end. Jerry asks Davidge to tell it about his own family and ancestors and their deeds. Davidge, as a human, remembers only as far back as two of his grandparents, and only a little about what they did for a living. When it is Jerry's turn to teach its lineage to Davidge, it explains how the Jeriba line is 170 generations long since its founding by Jeriba Ty, going back to the founding of the very Drac home world. The lineage song tells of what accomplishments each family member has made and achieved in its lifetime, ending with the latest member bringing its child before the holy council. Understanding the great honor involved, Davidge learns the Jeriba lineage song and commits its every verse to memory.

More time passes, and suddenly Jerry realizes it is time to deliver Zammis... but it can tell that something is dreadfully wrong, although it doesn't know what. Still, it realizes that these birthing complications are very serious. Davidge quickly goes into a panic at the thought of losing Jerry, who by now has become his dearest-- and on Fyrine, his only-- friend. Davidge's fears only intensify as Jerry suddenly calms down and begs Davidge to take its place as a parent for Zammis, and that one day, Davidge must fulfill the role that Jerry itself was destined for: to bring Zammis before the holy council on the Drac home world and recite its lineage, that the Jeriba clan will not be ended. Jerry is only satisfied when Davidge vows to do this. Jerry tells Davidge that he must pull open the birthing sac along Jerry's abdomen to deliver Zammis. Davidge can only watch helplessly as Jerry slowly passes on and dies. Stricken in horror, Davidge sits numbly, but then notices the birthing sac moving. He pulls it open and extracts the newborn drac baby, Zammis, looking it over in wonder.

A despondent Davidge buries Jerry in a grave of rocks, realizing that with all Jerry taught him about the task he's undertaken, it taught Davidge nothing about properly taking care of a baby drac. Davidge finds himself struggling but manages to successfully feed baby Zammis, gently holding the baby close against him within the bundle of heavy skin garments that keep him warm.

Zammis grows faster than a human child, quickly growing to about the size of a human youth just transitioning into adolescence, and able to think, reason, and communicate. Davidge teaches young Zammis (now played by Bumper Robinson) how to play football, using puffballs-- an edible fungus native to the planet-- as the ball.

One day Zammis begins to question why it is different from Davidge. It knows what it looks like by having seen its reflection in a pool of water within their cave, and that it looks different from Davidge. Zammis understands that it is of a different race than Davidge (who has taught Zammis to call him, 'Uncle'), and that Davidge isn't its parent... but as there are no other Dracs available to help Zammis appreciate its race and people, it desperately wishes it were human like Davidge.

The day eventually comes when Zammis is able to explore. It learns about the scavenger mine and, despite Davidge's desperate attempts to teach the child never to go near it, Zammis finally one day goes there in hopes of seeing other Dracs. Bewildered and horrified at the site of human scavengers beating Drac slaves, Zammis turns away only to find two of the scavengers standing right before him-- Stubbs (Brion James), one of the scavenger leaders, and his young brother, Johnny. The two of them grab Zammis, when suddenly an arrow pierces through the back of Johnny's neck and out through his throat, killing him. Davidge stands there, bow at the ready. Unfortunately, after breaking free, Zammis runs between Davidge and Stubbs, distracting Davidge and throwing off his aim. Stubbs whips out his pistol and fires a shot, severely wounding Davidge. Zammis screams in horror as he watches his 'uncle' tumble down the hill, before Stubbs grabs him and drags him off to the mine as a new slave.

Two searchlights sweep the vicinity and converge on Davidge.

Back on the Earth space station, deceased military are being given 'burials' in space-- placed into capsules and jettisoned to float among the stars. They find a John Doe with a curious necklace with a small book on it... it's Davidge. Figuring that this John Doe won't need the booklet anymore, one worker tries to remove the necklace-- and Davidge's hand suddenly seizes the worker by the throat. He's still alive.

Davidge is placed in a medical capsule and rushed to sickbay where his peers and superiors confirm his identity. They're completely amazed to see that he is still alive after having disappeared three years ago over Fyrine IV... and that he speaks the Drac language fluently; he'd been speaking it in a state of delirium while being brought to sickbay.

No sooner is Davidge healed and well again when he is determined to return to Fyrine IV to rescue Zammis. The fighter squadron leader, Arnold (Richard Marcus) cannot stop him. When Station ops refuses to open the docking bay doors for him, Davidge uses his ship's cannons to blast them open and flies down to Fyrine.

Davidge infiltrates the scavenger camp, sneaking his way to where a group of Dracs are working. He tries to speak to the Dracs, asking them about Zammis, even showing them his Talmon. The Dracs only stare until a scavenger overseer arrives and starts beating the Dracs to make them return to work. Davidge kills the overseer, and the eldest of the Drac slaves finally answers Davidge, realizing who he is. He alone among the Dracs in the mine knows how to speak English. He tells Davidge that Zammis is somewhere in the ship proper.

Davidge kills another scavenger overseer and takes his clothing. He finds his way to where Zammis is locked in a cramped cage. Seeing Zammis is alive, albeit barely, he pries open the cage door. At that moment Stubbs arrives with two scavenger miners. They've found the severed ear of the overseer Davidge killed and dropped into the gears of an ore processor. Stubbs gets a close look at Davidge's face and recognizes him. He grabs Zammis and orders the worker to bring Davidge along.

Davidge fights back and takes out the two miners. He grabs a pistol and kills a number of other scavengers. The Drac slaves are alerted to the noise, begin to understand what is going on, and prepare an uprising.

Arnold lands on Fyrine with pilot Morse (Carolyn McCormick) and her ship's co-pilot. They land beside Davidge's ship and make their way to the camp.

Stubbs yells out to Davidge, saying he's going to drop Zammis into a mining cart that's on a conveyor system which will drop Zammis into molten lava. Davidge fights Stubbs, but is constantly forced to divert his attention to rescuing Zammis, giving Stubbs an advantage. Stubbs finally knocks Davidge out and pushes both him and Zammis into the mining cart. As he yells and gloats, he is suddenly killed by a shotgun blast by the elder Drac. Arnold shuts down the conveyor system and pulls Davidge and Zammis out of the cart. Everyone watches grimly as Davidge tearfully frets over Zammis, until Zammis slowly reaches for Davidge's hand and weakly says, "Zammis get four, five?" Davidge begins to laugh in relief at seeing that Zammis is alive and will recover.

A closing narration tells that Davidge brought Zammis and all of the Dracs home to the drac home world of Dracon, and fulfilled his promise, presenting Zammis to the Drac holy council and reciting the Jeriba lineage so that Zammis could officially join the Drac people... and that when Zammis eventually reached adulthood and presented its own child, Jeriba Ty, before the council, the name Willis Davidge was added to the line of Jeriba.