The film opens with the depiction of the year 2029—a possible future where mankind has been oppressed by artificially intelligent machines, lead by the rebellious computer system Skynet. This computer became sentient and started a nuclear war by hijacking control of the United States' nuclear arsenal, launching the ICBM's in a devastating attempt to annihilate humanity. Now a post-apocalyptic war is raged in the future, where a small Resistance group of free humans try to win back their planet and survive the machine onslaught, lead by the heroic, influential General John Connor: the man responsible for the creation of the human resistance, and credited with rescuing mankind from extinction by rallying survivors to try and combat Skynet's forces.