Plot Summary

Set years after the events of Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines follows John Connor (Nick Stahl), now living off the grid and working menial jobs in an attempt to avoid the fate he was told was inevitable. His mother, Sarah Connor, has passed away, and despite everything she sacrificed, the creation of Skynet could not be prevented.

Unaware that Judgment Day was only delayed, John becomes the target of a new and far more advanced killing machine sent back from the future. The T-X (Kristanna Loken), a lethal fusion of endoskeleton and advanced nanotechnology, is designed not only to kill John but to eliminate his future lieutenants as well.

To counter this threat, the resistance once again sends back a reprogrammed Terminator—this time a T-101 model portrayed by Arnold Schwarzenegger. As the machines clash and time rapidly runs out, John is forced to confront a grim truth: the future may not be changeable, and survival may depend not on stopping Judgment Day, but enduring it.