Liu Xing is a humble but brilliant Chinese student who arrives at the fictional Hubble University and makes a bumpy transition into American life with the help of Joanna Silver. Silver is a wealthy university patron who has a fascination with Chinese culture and takes a liking to Liu Xing. Xing joins a select cosmology group under the direction of his hero, the famous cosmologist Professor Jacob Reiser. The group is working to create a model of the origins of the universe, based on Reiser's theory. Xing's enormous talent leads him quickly to become Reiser's protégé, and it seems that only hard work stands between him and a bright future in science. Xing is obsessed with the study of dark matter, an unseen substance that he believes shapes the universe, and a theory that conflicts with the Reiser model. Xing makes scientific breakthroughs of his own which improve the Reiser model. Without Professor Reiser's approval, Liu Xing proposes to research dark matter for his doctoral dissertation. Reiser explains to Xing that this type of research is too complicated and suggests that he should pick a simpler dissertation topic. Refusing to work with Xing, Reiser finds a new protégé in Feng Gang, another Chinese student who was Xing's rival in undergraduate school in Beijing. Professor Reiser approves of Feng's dissertation proposal as it sticks to the Reiser model. Feng's English skills are far superior to his fellow Chinese students', and he refuses to speak in Mandarin with them. Feng changes his name to Laurence so that Americans would be more comfortable pronouncing his name. Without the permission of Professor Reiser, Xing publishes an article in an astronomy journal. Reiser is enraged by this and refuses to accept Xing's doctoral dissertation. At a graduation party for the Chinese students it is announced that Laurence Feng has won the university's Gell-Mann honorary doctorate prize for that year. Joanna Silver urges Professor Reiser to do something to help Liu Xing. Reiser informs her that he has written a "very fine" recommendation for him. Professor Reiser also attempts to belittle Xing by telling Silver that Xing is not a "team player." Xing does not graduate and finds his dream of winning the Nobel Prize shattered. He goes on to sell beauty products to try to make money. His roommate offers to find him a job in China, but Xing refuses to leave. A few months pass and Xing mails all of his money (a check for ten thousand dollars) to his parents in China. One day, Xing returns to campus. He heads into an auditorium where Laurence Feng is giving a presentation to the cosmology department. Unable to cope with his emotions, Xing pulls a revolver out of his coat and begins firing, shooting Laurence and Reiser before making his way to Reiser's office and shooting himself in the head.

Syd March is employed by Lucas Clinic, a company which purchases viruses and other pathogens from celebrities, then purposefully infects paying fans who desire a connection with their idols. The company puts a copy protection on its products, which render the pathogens incommunicable after infecting a client. The pathogens supplied by Hannah Geist, Lucas Clinic's exclusive celebrity, are extremely popular. Syd March's colleague, Derek Lessing, is responsible for directly harvesting them from Hannah. To make extra money, Syd steals pathogens from the lab, bypasses the copy protection with a stolen console, and uses himself as an incubator. He then passes the pathogens to Arvid to sell on the black market. Arvid works at Astral Bodies, a celebrity meat market providing meat grown from the cells of celebrities. After Derek is caught smuggling and arrested, Syd is tasked to replace him to harvest a pathogen from Hannah, who has recently fallen ill. After taking a blood sample from Hannah, Syd injects himself with some of her blood. After experiencing the first symptoms, fever and disorientation, he leaves work early. His attempts to remove the virus' copy protection are unsuccessful, and his console breaks down during the process. The next day, Syd awakens from severe delirium to learn that Hannah has died from the unknown disease, and all products harvested from her have skyrocketed in popularity. To fix his console, Syd approaches Arvid, who sets up a meeting with Levine, the leader of the piracy group. Levine offers to fix the console in exchange for samples of Syd's blood, but Syd refuses. Levine restrains Syd and forcibly takes samples from him. Lethal pathogens are not legal to distribute, which only increase demands for the pathogen that killed Hannah. The next day, a severely ill Syd is approached by two men, who drive him to a secret location that houses Hannah. The celebrity, whose death was fabricated to protect her, is barely alive, extremely weak and bleeding from her mouth. Hannah's physician, Dr. Abendroth, reveals the virus infecting them has been engineered with a mechanism to prevent analysis, which broke Syd's console. It is, in fact, a modified version of an illness that Hannah has had before. Abendroth reveals his infatuation with Hannah, showing samples of her skin grafted to his own arm. He derides Syd as "just another fan." Syd returns to the Lucas Clinic, and traces the original strain of the virus to Derek, who sold it to a rival company, Vole & Tesser. Dr. Abendroth discovers that Vole & Tesser patented the modified strain, though their motives remain unclear. Before Syd can proceed further, he is abducted by Levine. Syd is put in a room where his deterioration and death will be broadcast on reality television to sate Hannah's fans, who could not witness her death. As Syd begins to show the final symptoms, he escapes by stabbing Levine in the mouth with a syringe and holding a nurse hostage with his infected blood. After Syd realizes that Vole & Tesser infected Hannah to harvest their own patented pathogen from her, Syd contacts them and negotiates a deal. Some time later, a virtual reality version of Hannah that advertises the "Afterlife" product, coming exclusively from Vole & Tesser. Syd now works for Vole & Tesser, where Hannah's cells have been replicated to form a distorted cell garden from Astral Bodies' celebrity meat technology. Viruses injected into her system are sold. Syd demonstrates a new virus as he sticks a needle into a genetically created arm. Later, while alone, Syd cuts the arm and drinks the flowing blood; it is revealed the arm is in fact Hannah's, as her deformed face and body are shown to be in the Cell Garden chamber.

The two lead characters appear as the robotic forms of Daft Punk and are credited as "Hero Robot No. 1" and "Hero Robot No. 2". One wears a silver helmet and the other wears a golden one. An opening scene shows the duo driving in a 1987 Ferrari 412 with its license plate displaying "HUMAN". After passing through a Southwestern United States landscape, the duo arrives by car at a town in Inyo County, California. The town's residents are also shown to be robots physically identical to the two main characters, but at different ages, with different clothing and alternating gender. The pair drive to a high-tech facility where liquid latex is poured over their heads. The latex morphs into human-like faces with the aid of prosthetic appliances and wigs. The resulting look caricaturizes the members of Daft Punk, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo. When the two leave the facility, the locals of the town are shocked by their human appearance. The townsfolk gradually begin to chase the duo, whose faces eventually melt in the sun. The two take cover in a public restroom where the gold robot discards his ruined mask, then encourages the reluctant silver robot to do the same. Again appearing as robots, the pair then undergo a lengthy hike across desert salt flats. After walking for an extended period, the silver robot slows down and comes to a stop. Becoming aware of this, the gold robot walks back to the silver one. The silver robot continues to stare at the ground for a moment before removing his own jacket. He then turns away from the other robot, revealing a switch on his back. The gold robot flips the switch, which begins a timer. When the countdown ends, the silver robot is blown to pieces. The remaining robot piles the remains of the silver robot, then continues to walk. The gold robot eventually falls to his knees and attempts to reach the switch on his own back, but to no avail. Another moment passes before the robot removes his helmet and repeatedly slams it into the ground until the helmet shatters. Using one of the shards as a burning-glass, the robot focuses the sunlight to set his hand ablaze. The film ends as the robot, completely on fire, walks in slow motion through darkness.

The film is set in Pößneck, Thuringia, in the summer of 1979. The Strelzyk and Wetzel families develop a daring plan to flee the GDR to West Germany in a self-made hot air balloon. About to attempt an escape in perfect wind conditions, Günter Wetzel decides it is too dangerous. He thinks the balloon is too small for eight people, and his wife Petra is afraid for their two young children. Therefore, they stop trying to escape for a short time. Doris and Peter Strelzyk now want to dare to escape alone with their two sons. Their teenage son Frank has fallen in love with Klara Baumann, the daughter of his neighbour Erik, who works for the Stasi, and writes her a farewell letter. The same night, the Strelzyk family packs the balloon and other accessories in their trailer, drives into the forest, and takes off. Hidden in the clouds, they cannot be seen by the border guards. However, the balloon goes down with Doris, Peter, and their two sons Frank and Andreas (called "Fitscher") in the gondola shortly before the border because the pipes from the gas bottles to the burner freeze up and become clogged. None of the four are injured, they get back to their car and destroy all evidence. Frank just manages to retrieve the letter to Klara. The Stasi finds the abandoned balloon and discovers the attempted escape, and under the direction of Lieutenant Colonel Seidel, begins a large investigation. He interrogates the border guards who were on duty at the time of the attempt to escape and accuses them of not taking their task seriously enough. The investigators narrow down the radius in which the balloon must have started, and thus also the circle of suspects. For the next few weeks, both families live in constant fear that the Stasi might link them to the attempted escape. Doris in particular is worried because she lost her medication in the forest, which gave the Stasi important information in the form of personalised pills. Peter wants to try again. Before that, however, they travel to East Berlin, where they hope to be able to get out of the country with the help of the East Berlin US Embassy, but this attempt fails. Peter can convince Günter to make another balloon attempt to escape. Since they must be careful in obtaining the materials to avoid raising suspicion, the family members only buy small quantities of suitable fabric in different cities. Günter sits at the sewing machine every night to join the pieces of fabric. Meanwhile, Seidel is fast putting together all the clues tying the family to the escape. He must prevent the GDR from being embarrassed by a successful escape attempt at all costs. Just as Doris feared, the investigators trace their medication back to the local pharmacy, where all recipients of the tablets are now being identified and checked. The Stasi published photos in the press of objects that the Strelzyks had to leave behind at the landing site of their first attempt. Günter has to move the sewing work to the Strelzyks' cellar because his neighbours have become aware of the constant running noise of the sewing machine. When Frank realises that Klara's father Erik has to go to the pharmacy because someone is wanted and that the wind is blowing to the south, the prerequisite for their escape, they want to make the second attempt that same night. When the Stasi employees work out their identities and break into their houses, the families are already on their way to the starting point. The start is not as perfect this time as on their first attempt and when the gas runs out they have to land in a forest after half an hour's flight. At first, it is not clear whether they have successfully crossed the border. Peter and Günter then explore the area and meet a police patrol car. When the police tell them that they are in Upper Franconia, the families react joyfully. Lieutenant Colonel Seidel and his superior must explain themselves to Stasi chief Erich Mielke, and Erik Baumann is interrogated by the Stasi. Ten years later, Doris and Peter Strelzyk watch Hans-Dietrich Genscher 's announcement from the Prague embassy on television that the GDR citizens gathered there are allowed to leave.

In the late 1990s, the National Security Agency (NSA) and a computer software firm, Wendell Crenshaw work together to implement a surveillance technology, the Echelon, which enables NSA to monitor almost anybody in the world. When classified information about the Echelon system accidentally finds its way into a young woman's hands, a terrible clash occurs in the opinions of a top-executive at Wendell Crenshaw and an NSA operative, the former determined to find out what the lady knows even if it means using violence and the latter, equally determined to save an innocent woman's life.