Oceanographer Steve Zissou, supported by his loyal team, makes documentary films about the aquatic environment and its inhabitants. At the premiere of his new film, which captures the death of Steve’s friend and partner at the jaws of a jaguar shark, Zissou publicly promises to find the animal and, in his words, take revenge. Thanks to the researcher’s indisputable authority, few were bothered by the fact that, apart from himself, no one else present had seen this amphibian, unknown to science, at that tragic moment. Therefore, preparations begin for a dubious but likely adventure-filled journey, in which Zissou’s illegitimate son joins the scientist and his colleagues.