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Synopsis
Some time in the future, the polar ice caps have melted, due to a shift in the Earth's axis, and the Earth is almost entirely covered with water. Surviving humans have forgotten the past; their creation belief is that the world was created in a deluge. So entrenched is this view that any other is regarded as blasphemy. There is, however, a common folk-belief amongst the various peoples that Dryland exists, though opinions on its physical
properties vary greatly.
The surviving peoples can be classified into four groups:
- Drifters, individualistic loners who ply the water in small boats, collecting things and trading with one another
as well as with atolls;
- Atoll Dwellers, who live in large floating constructs called atolls (in the movie, pronounced 'A-toll'). These are not to be confused with the natural coral formations of the same name.
- Smokers are pirates who inhabit abandoned oil tankers. They are called such because of the smoke they make by using oil-powered equipment, such
as jetskis; they all smoke tobacco, and consider cigarettes one of the most valuable treasures to be stolen.
- Slavers were mentioned by the drifter the Mariner meets early in the movie but not shown.
The antihero is a drifter (Kevin Costner), who arrives at an Atoll to trade his dirt — a highly prized rarity. For most of the film, he has no
name, though some refer to him as "the Mariner." He is a genetic mutant, with webbed feet and gills. He also appears to have amplified reflexes and hand-eye coordination, along with a "sixth sense", and natural mechanical ability.
The Atollers propose a deal with the Mariner: if he agrees to stay a short time — just long enough to impregnate
one of their women (so as to help avoid the inbreeding prevalent in their society) — they will let him go with all the supplies he needs. However, the Mariner refuses their
offer: he is clearly uncomfortable among the many people and claustrophobic surroundings of the Atoll. Angered, the Atoll's
leaders have him arrested, using the excuse that he may be a spy for the Smokers. During the struggle that ensues, they are
horrified to discover his mutant features; fearing him, they condemn him to be "recycled" in the Atoll's septic midden.
As they prepare to "recycle" the Mariner, however, the Smokers arrive in a raid, bringing with them a M45 Quadmount to destroy the Atoll. Their leader is the Deacon, who is the "captain" of a derelict oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez (nicknamed "the 'Deez"). They are in search of a young girl living on the atoll named Enola, who appears to have a map
to Dryland tattooed on her back; one of their spies, a man who was spurned by the Mariner at the atoll, had advised them of her presence there.
(The shorter theatrical version of the film does not explain how Enola acquired the tattoo, nor how she arrived at the Atoll.)
An outcast in the society of the Atoll, Enola lives with her caretaker, Helen, a woman in her twenties or thirties. Helen and Enola
plan to escape with Gregor (the Atoll's resident astrologer/engineer) in search of Dryland because, like the Mariner, they don't fit in.
Unfortunately, Gregor's escape balloon is accidentally released too early (with him on it), leaving Helen and Enola stranded on the Atoll as the Smokers overrun
it. They release the Mariner, after they force him to agree to take them with him, and escape on his large trimaran. To create a diversion, they turn the Quadmount on the Deacon's boat, destroying the craft and causing the Deacon to lose an eye. Despite being rescued from certain death,
the Mariner is displeased to have companions on his vessel, even after Helen offers to have sex with him in exchange for protection.
The Deacon, looking now for both revenge and Dryland, has a number of skirmishes with the Mariner in his attempts to get Enola
back. A mad drifter is also taken aboard the Mariner's ship for trading. The drifter wants to trade paper for Helen (presumably
for sexual reasons) and also asks for Enola, with the excuse of wanting somebody to talk to (also presumably for sexual reasons,
saying "Twenty-five minutes with the wee one; I like to do the talkin' if you know what I mean."). The Mariner temporarily
agrees only to trade Helen, and the drifter goes below deck with Helen and tries to encourage her to have sex with him. However,
the Mariner intervenes and the drifter draws a knife, telling Helen 'this won't take a minute.' The fight is not shown onscreen,
but banging and frequent swearing are heard after which the drifter appears with blood on his knife. It is soon revealed that
the Mariner has used a blade to slice down the drifter's spine, which results in his death. The Mariner disposes of his body
in the ocean.
Helen, meanwhile, having reasoned that the Mariner must know where Dryland is, demands to see it. The Mariner, who can
breathe underwater (due to his gills), puts her in a diving bell made out of plastic and swims down to a sunken city (actually the city of Denver)[citation needed] to show her. As they are inspecting the sunken city, the Smokers locate and board the Mariner's vessel;
when the Mariner and Helen return to the surface, the Smokers capture them. The Deacon grills the Mariner and Helen regarding
the whereabouts of Enola, who is obviously still somewhere aboard the ship, but the pair refuse to provide the Deacon with
any assistance; this momentarily stuns the Deacon, who has never been refused information before. The Deacon pretends to have
killed the Mariner and Helen by firing a gun into the sky, which scares Enola out of hiding so that she is captured by the
Smokers. The Deacon has his crew burn the Mariner's vessel (which later attracts Gregor to the location) and shoot at the
pair, but they escape by diving deeper than the bullets can reach. Since Helen cannot breathe underwater, the Mariner offers
to "breathe for the both of us," which results in a prolonged kiss of life while bullets rain down around them.
Helen and the Mariner grow hopeless, just as Gregor appears in his flying machine, telling them it was "good thinking"
to burn the boat. Gregor then takes the pair to the beginnings of a new Atoll where several other survivors of the Smoker
attack at the film's beginning have begun to rebuild. Here, the Mariner announces his intention to rescue Enola, as Helen
tries and fails to convince anyone to help him.
The Mariner chases down the Exxon Valdez on a stolen jetski and boards it. Celebrating the find of "the map to Dryland",
the Deacon rewards his crew by tossing them handfuls of (mostly broken) cigarettes from his car, which is driven up and down
the deck of the ship, and later cans of "Smeat" from the ship's sterncastle. Unfortunately, neither the Deacon nor his crew has any idea how to read the map; based
largely on the shape of the area of Dryland, the Deacon believes that the area indicated must be Japan. The arguments that ensue illustrate that the Deacon's hold on power is precarious and that he needs the promise of Dryland
to keep himself in power. Further conversations indicate that the supply of oil in the 'Deez is running low, threatening the
Deacon's hold on power. After a stirring speech — in which the Deacon manages to persuade the crew that he knows what
he's doing — the crew begins to row the immense ship with huge oars, in the style of a Viking longship. (Since nobody aboard can read the map, they begin rowing without setting a course.)
After cutting a murderous swath through the bowels of the ship, the Mariner walks out onto the now-empty deck and threatens
to throw a flare down into the oil holds unless the Deacon returns Enola. The Deacon ignores Enola's warning that the Mariner
never bluffs, and refuses, telling the Mariner that he would be crazy to blow up the ship. The Mariner responds by dropping
the flare into the oil hold. The flare ignites the remaining oil, consuming the 'Deez in a massive explosion.
As the crew of the 'Deez run for their lives, the Mariner manages to recapture Enola and escape the ship. They float at
sea for a while and then engage in one last battle with the Deacon (who survived the blast) before being rescued by Gregor,
who has joined with several other castaways and drifters in search of a place to start anew. En route to finding Enola and
the Mariner, they found Helen, who has joined their quest. Gregor finally figures out the map — after the Mariner comments
that the Earth's magnetic poles have reversed — and steers his balloon off in the direction of what does, in fact, turn
out to be Dryland: Mount Everest (not mentioned in the original version of the film but revealed in the extended cut). Gregor, Enola, Helen and the others
start civilization anew on the island. The Mariner, uncomfortable on dry land, builds a boat and sails away, back to his old
life — but before he leaves, Helen gives him a proper name "from an ancient myth": Ulysses. A warrior who journeys away but eventually returns home.
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