The film opens with a mid nineteenth century cargo liner sinking in a storm at sea, in what is presumed to be an Atlantic Gale. As the vessel begins to founder the crew muster the passengers to the lifeboats, one of which capsizes as it is launched, and its passengers are thrown out into the overwhelming seas. Swept below the waves and on the point of drowning, they are rescued by a group of divers who swim up to them to give them air and lead them to the submarine Nautilus.
Dr. Charles A. Forbin (Eric Braeden) is the chief designer of a secret government project that has built "Colossus", an advanced supercomputer to control the United States and Allied nuclear weapons systems. Being encased within a mountain, it is impervious to attack, powered by its own nuclear reactor. When Colossus is activated, the President of the United States (Gordon Pinsent) announces its existence, proudly proclaiming it a perfect defense system.
Aliens, running a traveling circus as a cover, revive a vampire, a werewolf, a mummy and Frankenstein's monster with a plan to use them to take over the world. They want to discover the reason that these monsters are so frightening to Earthlings. They then plan to create an army of such monsters using their findings.
By day, Dr. Frankenstein (Gordon Mitchell) works innocuously in his lab. But at night, he works to perfect Mosaico (Xiro Papas), a monstrosity pieced together from dead bodies. Once completed, the behemoth escapes from the lab and embarks on a killing spree. Local beauties begin popping up dead, murdered in a variety of gruesome ways, as authorities attempt to stop Mosaico's rampage.
The film follows the novel in presenting a first-person narrative from the point of view of Billy Pilgrim (Sacks), who becomes "unstuck in time" and experiences the events of his life in a seemingly random order, including a period spent on the alien planet of Tralfamadore. Particular emphasis is placed on his experiences during World War II, including the bombing of Dresden in World War II, as well as time spent with fellow prisoners of war Edgar Derby (Roche) and the psychopathic Paul Lazzaro (Leibman). His life as a husband to Valencia (Gans), and father to Barbara (Near) and Robert (King) are also depicted, as they live and sometimes even enjoy their life of affluence in Ilium, New York. A "sink-or-swim" scene with Pilgrim's father is also featured. The scenes of extraterrestrial life on Tralfamadore feature Hollywood starlet Montana Wildhack (Perrine).
Psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) spends his last day on Earth reflecting on his life while walking by a lake near his childhood home where his elderly father still resides. Kelvin is about to embark on an interstellar journey to a space station orbiting the remote oceanic planet Solaris. After decades of study, the scientific mission at the space station has barely progressed. The crew is sending confusing messages. Kelvin is dispatched to evaluate the situation aboard the ship and determine whether the venture should continue.
A brilliant and driven scientist, Jake Terrell, and his young and beautiful wife, Maggie, train dolphins to communicate with humans. This is done by teaching the dolphins to speak English in dolphin-like voices. Two of his dolphins, Alpha ("Fa") and Beta ("Bea"), are stolen by officials of the shadowy Franklin Foundation headed by Harold DeMilo (Fritz Weaver), the supportive backer of the Terrells' research. After the dolphins are kidnapped, an investigation by an undercover government agent for hire, Curtis Mahoney (Paul Sorvino), reveals that the Institute is planning to further train the dolphins to carry out a political assassination by having them place a magnetic limpet mine on the hull of the yacht of the President of the United States.
The exiled settler Alexander Ilyin persuades the goldmines owner Trifon Perfilyev to sponsor the expedition dedicated to the searches of "Sannikov Land", a legendary warm land behind the Polar circle. Hoping that this land could be filled with gold, Perfilyev agrees. Few more daredevils volunteer for the mission. The finally gathered crew consists of Ilyin himself, officer Evgeniy Krestovskiy, Perfilyev's servant Ignatiy, who is given a task of killing every other crew member in case they truly find any gold, and Gubin, a Katorga runaway and a former doctor.
At the Institute for Cybernetics and Future Science ("Institut für Kybernetik und Zukunftsforschung, IKZ"), a new supercomputer hosts a simulation program that includes an artificial world with over 9,000 "identity units" who live as human beings, unaware that their world is just a simulacron. Professor Vollmer (Adrian Hoven), who is technical director of the program, is apparently on the verge of an incredible secret discovery. He becomes increasingly agitated and anti-social before dying in a mysterious accident. His successor, Dr. Fred Stiller, has a discussion with Günther Lause, the security adviser of the institute, when the latter suddenly disappears without trace, before passing on Vollmer's secret to Stiller. More mysterious still is the fact that none of the other IKZ employees seem to have any memory of Lause.
Dr. Abner Perry, a British Victorian period scientist (Cushing), and his US financier David Innes (McClure) make a test run of their Iron Mole drilling machine in a Welsh mountain, but end up in a strange underground labyrinth ruled by a species of giant telepathic flying reptiles, the Mahars, and full of prehistoric monsters and cavemen. They are captured by the Mahars, who keep primitive humans as their slaves through mind control. David falls for the beautiful slave girl Princess Dia (Munro) but when she is chosen as a sacrificial victim in the Mahar city, David and Perry must rally the surviving human slaves to rebel and not only save her but also win their freedom.
Crewman Andrew Braddock (York) survives the wreck of the sailing ship The Lady Vain. After seventeen days at sea in a lifeboat, he reaches the shores of an island governed by the mysterious scientist "Dr. Moreau" (Lancaster). Besides Moreau, the inhabitants of the island include Moreau's associate, Montgomery (Davenport), a mercenary; his misshapen servant, M'Ling (Cravat); and a ravishing young woman named Maria (Carrera).
The story opens with a transmission received by the White House from the renegade Professor Cunningham, who threatens Washington DC with nuclear destruction from a missile fired from his submarine Raven. His extortion demand is one billion dollars in gold bullion. To demonstrate his capability he blows up small island with the Raven's 'Delta beam'. Cunningham, bespectacled and cardigan-clad, is assisted by various androids including a large silver-headed one known as Tor.
In Portland, Oregon in the near future, George Orr is charged with misuse of multiple prescription medications, which he was taking to keep himself from dreaming; he volunteers for psychiatric care to avoid prosecution, and is assigned to the care of licensed "oneirologist" William Haber. Orr's explanation of his drug abuse is incredible: he has known since age 17 his dreams change reality, and tries to prevent himself from dreaming because he fears their effects.
As part of an expedition from Earth on the ship "Pegas", Captain Zelyonyy, Professor Seleznyov and his daughter Alice Selezneva search for new animal species for Moscow Zoo. On the advice of the archeologist Gromozeka they look for with the help of doctor Verkhovtsev, the director of the museum of Two Captains, but the doctor behaves suspiciously: doesn't show them diaries of captains and starts spying on the expedition. On the planet Blukthey make some valuable purchases, among them a Chatterer — the bird belonging to the missing captain Kim. A suspicious fat man, Merry Fellow U, tries to steal a bird. Having listened to the speech of the Chatterer, the crew of "Pegas" heads for system of the Jellyfish. On the road heroes rescue robots of the planet of Shelezyak from diamond dust, admixed in greasing.
The film starts from the position close to the literary inspiration suggested in the title, but rather from developing it in the same manner as the novel it is used as a witty commentary on the political situation of Poland in the period of the Polish People's Republic.