To test its top-secret Human Hibernation Project, the Pentagon picks the most average Americans it can find - an Army private and a prostitute - and sends them to the year 2505 after a series of freak events. But when they arrive, they find a civilization so dumbed-down that they're the smartest people around.
The film is set in 2045, with the world on the brink of chaos and collapse. But the people have found salvation in the OASIS, a virtual reality universe created by the eccentric James Halliday. When Halliday dies, he leaves his immense fortune to the first person to find a digital Easter egg he has hidden somewhere in the OASIS. When a young hero named Wade Watts joins the contest, he is hurled into a reality-bending treasure hunt through a fantastical universe of mystery, discovery and danger.