In 2169, people are genetically engineered to stop aging on their 25th birthday, when a one-year countdown on their forearm begins. When it reaches zero, the person “times out” and dies instantly. Time has thus become the universal currency, transferred directly between people or stored in “time capsules”. Several major areas called Time Zones exist; Dayton is the poorest, a manufacturing “ghetto” where people rarely have over 24 hours on their clocks, whereas in New Greenwich, people have enough time to be essentially immortal. In Time 2011 full
Will Salas, a 28-year-old Dayton factory worker, lives with his 50-year-old mother Rachel. One night, he rescues a drunken 105-year-old man named Henry Hamilton from 75-year-old Fortis and his Minutemen, a group of time-robbing thugs. In a secret location, Hamilton, who has 116 years on his clock but is tired of living, reveals to Will that the people of New Greenwich hoard most of the time, while constantly increasing prices to keep poorer people dying. The next morning, he transfers all but 5 minutes of his time to a sleeping Will, then times out by falling off a bridge before Will can stop him. Raymond Leon, the 75-year-old leader of a unit of police-like Timekeepers, erroneously assumes Will robbed and killed Hamilton.
Will visits his friend Borel, who warns him against having so much time in Dayton, and gives him 10 years, one for each year of their friendship. He then goes to meet his mother to leave for New Greenwich together. However, the city bus fare has risen from 1 to 2 hours, and Rachel, having used all but 90 minutes of her time to pay off a 2-day loan, is short on bus fare to return to Dayton. The uncaring driver forces her to run back to Dayton, but she arrives a few seconds too late for Will to save her and times out at the last moment, dying in his arms. Heartbroken and angry, Will vows revenge for his mother’s death by taking the people of New Greenwich for everything they have.