雲圖由不同時空的六個故事組成，像大衛所說，它像壹幅馬賽克拼貼畫。
ISouth Pacific Ocean, 1849
Adam Ewing, an American lawyer from San Francisco, has come to theChatham Islands to conclude a business arrangement with Reverend Gilles Horrox for his father-in-law, Haskell Moore. He witnesses the whipping of a Moriori slave, Autua, who later stows away on the ship. He confronts Ewing and convinces him to advocate for Autua to join the crew as a freeman. Meanwhile, Dr. Henry Goose slowly poisons Ewing, claiming it to be the cure for a parasitic worm, aiming to steal Ewing's valuables. When Goose attempts to administer the fatal dose, Autua saves Ewing. Returning to the United States, Ewing and his wife Tilda denounce her father's complicity in slavery and leave San Francisco to join the Abolition movement.[18][19]
南太平洋,1849
亞當·尤因,從舊金山來的美國律師,已經到了theChatham群島簽訂業務l為他嶽父Horrox 與牧師Gilles,Haskel。他目擊了壹個莫裏奧裏人鞭打奴隸,Autua,後來藏在船上了。他遇到尤因,說服他提倡Autua加入船員作為壹個自由人。與此同時,亨利古斯博士慢慢給尤因下毒,聲稱它是治療壹種寄生蟲的藥物,旨在竊取尤因的貴重物品。當古斯試圖給他下致命劑量,Autua救了尤因。回到美國,尤因和他的妻子蒂爾達譴責她父親的***謀奴隸制，並離開舊金山加入廢奴運動。
Cambridge, England and Edinburgh, Scotland, 1936
Robert Frobisher, a bisexual English musician, finds work as an amanuensis to aging composer Vyvyan Ayrs, allowing Frobisher the time and inspiration to compose his own masterpiece, "The Cloud AtlasSextet." While working for Ayrs, Frobisher begins reading the published chronicle of Adam Ewing's journal which he has found among the many books at Ayrs's mansion. He never finishes reading the journal and notes in a letter that "A half-finished book is, after all, a half finished love affair." When "The Cloud Atlas Sextet" is revealed to Ayrs, he wishes to take credit for Frobisher's work, claiming it is the result of their collaboration and threatens to expose his scandalous background if he resists. Frobisher shoots and wounds Ayrs and flees to a hotel. Perhaps spurred by his inability to complete Ewing's book, he finishes "The Cloud AtlasSextet", then commits suicide, just before his lover Rufus Sixsmith arrives.
英國劍橋大學和愛丁堡,蘇格蘭,1936年
羅伯特·弗羅比舍,壹個雙性戀英語音樂家,找到壹份為年老的作曲家維維安·阿耶斯做抄寫員的工作，給了弗羅比舍作曲的時間和靈感來創作出屬於他自己的傑作,“雲圖六重奏“。“在為阿耶斯工作時，弗羅比舍開始閱讀在阿耶斯宅邸眾多書中的壹本亞當?尤因的日記。他從未讀完日記和筆記在壹封信中“壹本未完的書歸根結底是壹份未完的愛情”。“當《雲圖》六重奏”被完成,阿耶斯想讓他保證聲稱它是出自他們的協作，如果他拒絕，就威脅要揭露他的醜聞的背景。弗弗洛比舍爾誤傷了阿耶斯後逃遁，並在壹家小旅館中完成了《雲圖六重奏》的創作。在完成自己的絕世之作之後，就在他的情人魯弗斯·斯密斯到來之前，弗洛比舍爾吞槍自盡。
San Francisco, USA, 1973
Journalist Luisa Rey meets an older Sixsmith, now a nuclear physicist. Sixsmith tips off Rey to a conspiracy regarding the safety of a new nuclear reactor run by Lloyd Hooks, but is assassinated by Hooks' hitman Bill Smoke before he can give her a report that proves it. Rey finds and reads Frobisher's letters to Sixsmith, resulting in her tracking down a vinyl recording of Frobisher's "The Cloud Atlas Sextet." Isaac Sachs, another scientist at the power plant, passes her a copy of Sixsmith's report. However, Smoke kills Sachs by blowing up the plane in which he is flying, and later also runs Rey's car off a bridge, but she is able to escape. With help from the plant's head of security, Joe Napier, who knew her father, she evades another attempt against her life which results in Smoke's death and exposes the plot to use a nuclear accident for the benefit of oil companies.
舊金山,美國,1973年
路易莎?雷是壹個采訪壹個新核電站的記者。她在核電站公司的電梯中邂逅老年的物理學家斯克斯史密斯。斯克斯史密斯看到路易莎有壹個和弗洛比舍爾寫類似的胎記，想把關於核電站安全隱患內幕的資料給她，但在家中被殺手殺死。路易莎雖然沒有拿到資料，但拿到了當年弗洛比舍爾寫給斯克斯史密斯的信件，並找到了《雲圖六重奏》唱片。之後路易莎再次采訪核電站老板，並遇到了核電站公司的另外壹個工程師伊薩克?薩赫斯。薩赫斯對路易莎壹見鐘情，但在給路易莎核能發電內幕的相關資料之後也被謀殺於飛機的意外爆炸。路易莎也被殺手追殺，但在其父親的戰友幫助下死裏逃生。殺手因為出言侮辱壹個墨西哥裔婦女並殺死了她的狗，而被該女子殺死。在最後路易莎從斯克斯史密斯的侄女手中拿到資料，揭露真相。
United Kingdom, 2012
65-year-old publisher Timothy Cavendish reaps a windfall when Dermot Hoggins, the chav author of Knuckle Sandwich, publicly murders a critic who gave the novel a harsh review. When Hoggins's brothers threaten Cavendish's life to get his share of the profits, Cavendish asks for help from his wealthy brother Denholme. Avenging an old affair with his wife, Denholme tricks Timothy into hiding in a nursing home, where he is held against his will and abused by the head nurse, Noakes. While there, Cavendish reads a manuscript of a novel based on Luisa Rey's story. Plotting with three other residents, Cavendish escapes and goes on to write a screenplay of his story.
英國，2012
蒂姆斯?卡文迪許是壹個65歲的出版商。他讀到了壹個關於路易莎?雷揭露關於核電站陰謀的懸疑小說。他旗下的壹個黑幫作家在壹次聚會上將壹個苛刻的書評人從屋頂扔了下去，由此被關到監獄。此事導致該作家的書暢銷，蒂姆斯大發橫財。之後黑幫作家的爪牙向蒂姆斯勒索，蒂姆斯向其兄長借錢，不料卻被其兄長騙到壹家像監獄壹樣的養老院無法脫身。養老院的護士諾亞克絲等人對入住老人嚴密監視，但蒂姆斯最終和幾個誌同道合的老人逃出養老院，並把自己的經歷寫成劇本。
Neo Seoul, (Korea), 2144
Sonmi~451 is a genetically-engineered fabricant, a human clone and slave worker living a compliant life of servitude as a server at a futuristic fast food restaurant. She recounts her memories before an interviewer, anarchivist whose purpose is to document her thoughts and story for the future. Sonmi begins by recounting a day in the life of a fabricant like herself. She tells how she was exposed to ideas of rebellion and liberation (based on Cavendish's adventures), and how she was rescued from captivity by Commander Hae-Joo Chang, a member of a rebel movement known as "Union". He smuggles her to a residence in Neo Seoul where he exposes Sonmi to the larger world, including the writings of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and a film version of Timothy Cavendish's "ghastly ordeal". They are found and Sonmi is captured. Hae-Joo rescues her, introduces her to the leader of the rebel movement, then shows her that fabricants are not freed at the end of their contract as she believed, but are killed and "recycled" into food for other clones. She decides that the system of society based on slavery and exploitation is intolerable, and makes a public broadcast of her story and manifesto. Hae-Joo is killed in a firefight and Sonmi is captured again. After telling her story to the archivist, she is executed.
韓國新首爾，22世紀
在公司化的集權統治下，星美451是壹個人工克隆的“人造人”，被像奴隸壹樣驅使在快餐館工作。她們戴著項圈，隨時可以被監控者用遙控器處死。她的同伴幼娜939偷到了壹個小視頻播放器，二人在晚上溜到儲藏室，壹起看由演員扮演的蒂姆斯?卡文迪許經歷的電影，並記住了其中演員所說的臺詞“我決不會向暴力犯罪屈服”。之後幼娜939因為反抗顧客的淩辱而在試圖逃脫餐館時被處決。星美451被地下抵抗組織的張海柱多次營救，並和張海柱互生情愫。抵抗組織醫生奧維德幫星美451去掉了項圈。星美451得知自己的同類會在失去工作能力之後被殺死，制造成給人造人的食物，因此決心和抵抗組織合作，發表宣言鼓勵反抗。張海柱和其他抵抗組織成員在壹次戰鬥中陣亡，星美451也被俘。星美451在向檔案人員講出她的故事後被處決。
The Big Island, 2321
(This section is dated "106 winters after The Fall" in the end credits and book cited as 2321.) Zachry lives in a primitive society called "The Valley" after most of humanity has died during "The Fall," a largely-unexplained apocalyptic event. The Valley tribesmen speak a degenerated form of English, and worship a goddess called Sonmi (Sonmi~451), their sacred text taken from the broadcast of her manifesto. Zachry is plagued by hallucinations of a demonic figure called "Old Georgie" who manipulates him into giving in to his fears. One day, Zachry, Adam (Zachry's brother-in-law) and Zachry's nephew are attacked by the cannibalistic Kona tribe. He runs into hiding and watches as his companions are murdered. His village is visited by Meronym, a member of the "Prescients", an advanced society still using the last remnants of technology. Her mission is to find a remote communication station called Mauna Sol and send a message to Earth's colonies. Catkin, Zachry's niece, falls sick, and in exchange for saving her Zachry agrees to guide Meronym into the mountains to find the Atlas. At the station, Meronym reveals that Sonmi was not a deity as the Valley tribe believes, but a normal human who died long ago. After returning, Zachry finds his tribe dead, slaughtered by the Kona. He kills the Kona chief, rescues Catkin, and Meronym saves them both from an assault by Kona tribesmen. Zachry and Catkin join Meronym and the Prescients as their ship leaves Big Island.
Prologue / Epilogue
A seventh time period, several decades after the events on Big Island, is featured in the film's prologue and epilogue: Zachry is revealed to have been telling these stories to his grandchildren on a beach in the outskirts of a city on the colony of Earth on another planet. The epilogue also confirming that Meronym, who is also present at the site and now, apparently, his wife, succeeded in sending the message to the colonies and was rescued along with him.
遙遠的未來，夏威夷島上
人類經歷浩劫之後只有少數存活，掌握高科技的更是極少數。紮克裏是這個島上的壹個土著，和他妹妹露絲等人過著原始的生活。在目睹妹夫和侄兒被食人族殺害時，紮克裏受到“老佐治”魅影──族人對惡魔的想像──的蠱惑，向自己的恐懼屈服，沒有出手相救，從此被“老佐治”纏身。壹天，壹個掌握高科技的先見族人梅洛尼姆來到島上，她需要壹個向導登上山頂，尋找名叫雲圖的天文臺。在她救助了紮克裏的外甥女之後，紮克裏同意帶她上山。途中紮克裏多次受到“老佐治”的困擾，威脅他不要幫助梅洛尼姆，不然會招到“老佐治”報復。在山頂的壹個廢棄的天文臺裏，梅洛尼姆告訴紮克裏他們部落崇拜的女神星美其實是個人，並給他看當年星美451所發表的鼓勵大家起來反抗的視頻錄像。梅洛尼姆在天文臺向已經殖民其他星球的人類發出了信息。紮克裏回到村裏，發現村子已經被食人族部落洗劫，露絲等人均被殺死，只有紮克裏的外甥女幸存。出於憤恨，紮克裏刺殺了食人族的首領。在和食人族的搏鬥中梅洛尼姆伸出援手，營救紮克裏。紮克裏也擺脫了“老佐治”的困擾。後來他們壹同離開地球在外星幸福地生活。
請采納，非常詳盡，祝好！
來自英語牛人團