In 1999, the Janjira nuclear plant was mysteriously destroyed, resulting in the loss of many lives, including supervisor Joe Brody's wife, Sandra. Years later, Ford, Joe's estranged son and a US Navy officer, travels to Japan to assist his father, who is fixated on uncovering the truth behind the incident. Together, they uncover the true cause of the disaster at the site, leading them to witness the resurgence of a grave threat to humanity, which is compounded by another revival occurring elsewhere. In this crisis, Godzilla may be the world's only hope, but it will face significant challenges as humanity grapples with their formidable ally.
In 1999, a strange incident occurs at Japan's Janjira nuclear power plant, resulting in the death of engineer Joe Brody's wife, Sandra, and her team. Joe rejects the official explanation for the event. Fifteen years later, his son, Ford Brody, a US Navy officer, is arrested after Joe enters the quarantined area of Janjira. Ford goes to Japan to free his father, and they uncover the truth behind the accident: it was caused by a "Massive Unidentified Terrestrial Organism" (MUTO) that consumes underground radiation. The MUTO escapes to Honolulu, killing Joe. Godzilla is awakened, causing a tsunami and battling the MUTO in Honolulu. Meanwhile, a female MUTO escapes from a Nevada facility, destroys Las Vegas, and heads to San Francisco to breed with the first MUTO. Godzilla becomes humanity's last hope against the MUTO threat.
After discovering an ancient spore and preserving it for nearly 15 years, it hatches, introducing malevolent organisms that endanger humanity. An ancient ocean creature rises to restore nature’s balance and ensure that humanity learns from its past mistakes. The story starts in Japan with Joe Brody (Bryan Cranston), a nuclear power-plant manager who is so immersed in his job that he forgets his birthday. He sends his son Ford to school and heads to the plant with his wife Sandra (Juliette Binoche), who works there too. Joe begins to suspect unusual seismic activity could be more than just tectonic shifts. His intuition proves correct when the plant melts down, trapping Sandra behind a containment door, leading to a massive cover-up. Fast forward fifteen years, and Ford (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) is now a bomb-disposal expert in the U.S. military.
After returning home to his wife Elle (Elizabeth Olsen) and son Sam (Carson Bolde), he learns his father has been arrested in Japan. Although estranged from Joe, who was dismissed as a conspiracy theorist over the past disaster, Ford travels to Japan to help him and reluctantly agrees to return to their quarantined home. They are then taken into custody at the plant where Joe once worked, where scientists Dr. Ichiro Serizawa (Ken Watanabe) and Vivienne Graham (Sally Hawkins) are studying a radiation-consuming cocoon. Tensions rise when events echo the past and a fearsome creature called "MUTO" is released. As the military tries to eliminate it, they discover that MUTO had called out to something before escaping, awakening a colossal being that has been dormant for centuries, potentially restoring nature's balance.