This action adventure is the first instalment of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' series that sparks off when sailing to Port Royal, Governor Weatherby Swann, his daughter Elizabeth, and Lieutenant James Norrington encounter a burning shipwreck and recover a young boy Will Turner. Elizabeth hides a golden pirate medallion owned by Will, so as to protect him and sees a ghost ship vanishing into the fog.
Eight years on, Norrington is promoted to the rank of Commodore and proposes to Elizabeth, but her tight corset causes her to faint and fall into the sea. She is rescued by Captain Jack Sparrow, who Norrington identifies as a pirate who intends on commandeering a ship. Jack attempts to escape but runs into Will, now a blacksmith and a talented swordsman. They engage in a sword fight but Jack is captured by Norrington’s men and imprisoned.
That night, the Black Pearl, the ship Elizabeth saw as a child, assaults Port Royal in search of the medallion. Two pirates, Pintel and Ragetti, escort Elizabeth to meet Captain Barbossa to negotiate parley. Elizabeth pretends to be called “Elizabeth Turner”, but while Barbossa stops the attack he takes her prisoner. Barbossa reveals to Elizabeth that his crew are cursed to be immortal after taking the Aztec treasure of Cortez from Isla de Muerta, appearing as skeletons when out in moonlight.
In order to free themselves, the crew must gather all 882 gold pieces and gave blood sacrifices, but still need the last piece and Elizabeth’s blood to complete it.
Will frees Jack from prison to rescue Elizabeth, Jack agreeing to when he learns Will’s last name. They commandeer the HMS Interceptor by pretending to steal the HMS Dauntless and recruit a motley crew from Tortuga, including Jack’s friend Joshamee Gibbs. Jack reveals that Will’s father, Bootstrap Bill, was a pirate.
Will learns that Jack was formerly captain of the Black Pearl until Barbossa mutinied and marooned him on an island, leaving him with a pistol with a single shot that Jack never used, intending to shoot Barbossa. Arriving at Isla de Muerta, Will and Jack observe Barbossa trying to commence the blood ritual but finds Elizabeth is not the child of Bootstrap Bill. Will spirits Elizabeth away to the Interceptor, while Jack reunites with his former crew and is locked in the Pearl’s brig.
The Pearl pursues the Interceptor, taking the crew hostage and destroying the ship. Will makes a deal with Barbossa to release Elizabeth in exchange for lifting the curse, but Barbossa maroons Jack and Elizabeth on the same island Jack had been left on before.
However, Elizabeth makes a smoke signal using Jack’s hidden supplies and alerts the Dauntless, reuniting with her father and Norrington, who agrees to rescue Will when Elizabeth accepts his proposal. Jack and Norrington plot an assault on the pirates with Jack going in to lure them out but the plan goes awry when Barbossa sends his crew underwater to assassinate the Dauntless' crew. Elizabeth escapes the Dauntless alone, freeing Jack’s crew from the Pearl, and ventures to the island to rescue Will.
Jack and Barbossa duel, but when Barbossa runs Jack through, he is revealed to be cursed too, having taken a piece of gold from Cortez’s chest. Jack shoots Barbossa, with Will revealing the curse has been lifted by fulfilling the blood ritual, and Barbossa drops dead.
A short time later, Jack faces a public hanging, but Will attempts to rescue him. The two are captured, but when Elizabeth defends them both, Jack escapes aboard the Black Pearl. Governor Swann pardons Will and gives his blessing for Elizabeth to marry him. In a post-credits scene, Barbossa’s pet monkey Jack regains immortality by stealing a piece of gold from the chest.