We meet James Kirk, a reckless teenager, causing trouble in his home state of Iowa. Kirk's intelligence gets him into trouble when he instigates a bar fight after insulting a group of Starfleet cadets. When Captain Christopher Pike steps in to get his cadets back in line, he recognizes James as the son of George Kirk, one of Starfleet's fallen heroes. Pike encourages Kirk to enroll in Starfleet Academy and follow his father's legacy. Reluctant at first, Kirk decides to board a shuttle to Starfleet Academy. Three years into his training at the Academy, Kirk is stirring up trouble again. This time he is accused of cheating during a test simulation. Commander Spock the designer of the test takes Kirk to a disciplinary hearing where his punishment will be decided.
The hearing is interrupted when Starfleet receives a distress call from an allied planet. Kirk and Spock are both assigned to the starship Enterprise with Captain Pike and respond to the emergency alongside the rest of the fleet. The Enterprise arrives at its destination and is immediately attacked, finding the rest of the fleet destroyed and a mysterious ship drilling into the planet they came to aid. When Captain Pike is taken prisoner and the mysterious crew threatens to destroy earth, Spock and Kirk must put their differences aside in order to work together and lead the crew of the Enterprise to battle in order to stop a vengeful, time-traveling crew on a mission to destroy Starfleet one planet at a time.
Karl Urban closes a deal to star in a new futuristic crime drama produced by Abrams and directed by "Fringe" captain Brad Anderson, set to hit FOX.