In Time Cast and Characters

In 2169, people are genetically engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday. Each has a digital clock on their forearm; when they turn 25, they stop aging and their clock begins counting down from 1 year.[Note 1] When the clock reaches zero, that person "times out" and dies. Time has become the universal currency, and can be transferred between people or "time capsules". The film focuses on two specific "time zones" in what used to be Los Angeles: Dayton - a poor manufacturing area where people generally have 24 hours or less on their clock at any given time - and New Greenwich - the wealthiest time zone, where people have enough time on their clock to live for centuries.

Will Salas is a 28-year-old Dayton factory worker living with his 50-year-old mother Rachel. He rescues a drunken 105-year-old man named Henry Hamilton from an attempted robbery by a gang of "Minutemen" (time-robbing thugs) led by 75-year-old Fortis. Hamilton reveals to Will that the people of New Greenwich hoard most of the time for themselves to live forever, while constantly increasing the cost of living keeps poorer people dying. The next morning, Hamilton transfers 116 years of his time to a sleeping Will, before timing out and falling off a bridge. Raymond Leon, leader of the police-like Timekeepers erroneously assumes that Will played a part in Hamilton's death.

Will visits his best friend Borel and tells him of the time he received. Borel warns him that having so much time within Dayton will get him killed. Will gives Borel ten years in return for their years of friendship before going to wait for his mother so they can move to New Greenwich. Rachel uses all but 90 minutes of her time to pay off a 2-day loan and finds herself short for a bus fare to get home. She urges the bus driver to lend her a loan of 30 minutes that her son will pay off but to which he refuses and advises her to run. She times out in Will's arms before they can reach each other and Will can lend her time.

The following morning, Will heads to New Greenwich. He visits a local casino and meets 110-year-old time-loaning businessman Philippe Weis and his 27-year-old daughter Sylvia. While playing poker with Weis, Will comes dangerously close to timing out, but eventually wins 1,100 years in a flawless gamble. Sylvia, impressed, invites him to a party in the Weis mansion. Will buys a shiny new sports car and drives himself to the party. After a quick dance, down at their private beach Will tempts Sylvia into a moonlit dip in the waves (her first brush with danger). Once back indoors Will is surprised by the Timekeepers, there to arrest him.

Dismissing Will's claim of innocence, Raymond confiscates all but two hours of his time. When asked why he's investigating a suicide, instead the Timekeeper insinuates he knew Will's father. Left with little choice, Will takes Sylvia as hostage and drives back to Dayton. They are ambushed by Fortis' gang, crash the car and are left with 30 minutes each. Will attempts to get some time back from Borel, but his wife Greta tells him that he has drunk himself to death with nine years left on his clock, blaming Will for the stupidity of his generosity. Sylvia pawns her diamond earrings for extra time, and Will calls Weis to demand a 1,000 year ransom (to be paid into the time-mission for the desperate). When Weis refuses to pay, Will decides to release a disappointed Sylvia anyway. She calls Weis from a pay phone, but they are ambushed by Raymond, whom Sylvia shoots in protection of Will.

Will and Sylvia decide to team up and begin robbing Weis' time banks, giving the extra time capsules to the needy/poor. After a ten-year reward is offered for their capture, Fortis' gang tracks them down to a hotel room. Fortis challenges Will to a "time-duel" to the death, in which Will times out Fortis by applying his father's time duel trick; easily surprise shooting the rest of the gang as they're distracted by their boss' last dwindling seconds. However, the pair soon frustratingly realise they cannot steal enough time to significantly change anything, as New Greenwich simply raises prices to compensate for the extra time citizens now have, leaving them in the exact same predicament.

They successfully rob Weis' personal vault and obtain the one-million-years capsule. Raymond chases them back to Dayton, but is too late to stop them from distributing the stolen time as Will distributes the time to the girl. After chasing them to the city's outskirts, Raymond reveals that he also came from Dayton and intends to stop other Daytoners from doing the same. However, he realizes too late that he forgot to collect his daily time allotment and times out. Will and Sylvia, each with just over a minute to live, race to Raymond's patrol car. Will collects Raymond's daily share and runs back to Sylvia in a scene reminiscent of his mother's death. This time, he saves her when her clock only has seconds left.

TV reports show factories in Dayton shutting down as everyone has enough time and abandon their jobs to go to New Greenwich for a little taste of luxury and freedom. Will and Sylvia continue robbing banks as part of their efforts to crash the system, while the rich attempt to cope with the sudden surge of people infiltrating their zone. In an end scene, they get out of the car whilst reloading their guns, "Told you there were larger banks" Sylvia tells a smiling Will, who replies "You almost missed your calling". Exhilarated they both run up the stairs towards the large building, armed and ready to continue the fight and to live.