When the Romulan mining ship Narada attacks the Federation starship USS Kelvin, Lieutenant George Kirk substitutes his captain, who is going to meet the Romulan Captain Nero in his vessel to negotiate a ceasefire, in the command of the Kelvin. He orders the evacuation of the damaged starship, including his wife who is in labor while delivering their son James Tiberius Kirk in the hospital shuttlecraft, George Kirk crashes the Kelvin against the Narada. The reckless and troublemaker Kirk grows up and when he meets Captain Christopher Pike in a bar fight, he is invited to join Starfleet. Meanwhile in Vulcan, the outcast Spock grows-up discriminated against for his half-human condition. They meet each other in Starfleet Academy, wherein Spock accuses Kirk of lack of ethics, cheating a test of command. The trial is suspended with the information that Vulcan is under attack, sending Federation starships to Vulcan, including the recently commissioned USS Enterprise. Kirk, who is a stowaway, foresees an alien attack and advises Captain Pike; however, the Enterprise is damaged and when Captain Pike travels to meet Captain Nero, Spock has command and a serious friction with Kirk after the destruction of Vulcan. Kirk is accused of mutiny and stranded on the desert planet Delta Vega. Out of the blue, he is saved from an attack of an alien animal by old Spock who explains to Kirk that Captain Nero blames Spock and the Federation for the destruction of his home planet Romulus by a supernova. Spock explains that he had failed in the creation of a black hole with red matter to consume the supernova and Nero is seeking revenge. Now Kirk has to find a way to save Earth, the next destination of the Narada.