← All Movies
Starman
Starman is a love story. It's It Happened One Night
— John Carpenter
The Voyager 2 space probe, launched in 1977, carries a phonographic disc with a message of peace, inviting alien civilizations to visit Earth. The probe is intercepted by an alien ship traveling through space which then sends a scout vessel to establish first contact with Earth. Instead of greeting the vessel, the U.S. government shoots it down.
Crashing in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin, the lone alien occupant, looking like a floating ball of energy, finds the home of recently widowed Jenny Hayden. He uses a lock of hair from her deceased husband Scott, to clone a body for himself. The alien "Starman" has seven spheres with him which provide energy to perform miraculous feats.
The alien uses the first sphere to send a message to his people stating that Earth is hostile and his spacecraft was destroyed. He arranges to rendezvous with them in three days' time. He then uses the second sphere in self-defense and the third to create a holographic map of the United States, coercing Jenny into taking him to the rendezvous in Arizona.
Jenny, however, attempts to escape. Having a very basic understanding of the English language from the phonographic disk, the Starman learns to communicate with Jenny and assures her that he means no harm. He explains that if he does not reach the rendezvous point, Arizona's Barringer Crater, in three days, he will die.
Jenny teaches the Starman how to drive a car and use credit cards, so he can continue the journey alone. When he resurrects a dead deer, she is moved and decides to stay with him. The authorities pursue the pair across the country. A police officer shoots and critically wounds Jenny.
To escape, the Starman crashes their car into a gas tanker and uses another sphere to protect them from the explosion. They take refuge in a mobile home that is being towed. He uses another sphere to heal Jenny. After being assured that she will recover, he proceeds to hitchhike toward Arizona without her, but Jenny reaches him while he and his driver are stopped at a roadblock. Reunited, they hitchhike together, resuming their journey towards the crater.
Later, while stowing away on a railroad boxcar, the two have sex. The Starman tells Jenny, "I gave you a baby tonight." She reveals that she is infertile, but he assures her that she is pregnant. He explains that Scott is the posthumous father, as Starman used Scott's DNA to clone himself. As a child also of Starman, their son will possess all the Starman's knowledge and will grow up to be a teacher. Starman offers to stop the pregnancy if she wishes, but Jenny embraces him, accepting the gift.
They accidentally travel too far on the train and arrive in Las Vegas. Jenny loses her wallet. The Starman uses one of their last quarters in a slot machine, which he manipulates to win the $500,000 jackpot. They buy a Cadillac to complete their journey to Arizona.
National Security Agency director George Fox learns that the Starman's flight trajectory, prior to being shot down, was to the Barringer Crater. So, he arranges to have the Army capture the Starman, dead or alive. SETI scientist Mark Shermin, another government official involved in the case, criticizes Fox's heavy-handed approach and reminds him that the Starman was invited to Earth. Appalled to learn that Fox is planning to vivisect the alien, Shermin then resolves to help the Starman escape rather than let Fox capture him.
Jenny and the dying Starman reach the crater as Army helicopters pursue them. Just as they are surrounded, a large spaceship appears and descends into the crater. Light surrounds the couple and the Starman is fully healed. While preparing to leave, he tells Jenny he will never see her again. Jenny asks him to take her with him, but he says she would die on his world. He then gives her his last sphere, saying that their son will know what to do with it. Jenny watches as the ship departs.