In 1986, MI6 agents James Bond and Alec Trevelyan infiltrate a Soviet chemical weapons facility in Arkhangelsk. 

While Trevelyan is caught and assumed killed by Colonel Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov, the facility's commanding officer, Bond destroys the site and flees.

Bond attempts to prevent Xenia Onatopp, a member of the Janus crime syndicate, from stealing a Eurocopter Tiger attack helicopter during a military demonstration in Monte Carlo.

Returning to London, Bond oversees MI6 staff monitoring an incident in Severnaya, Siberia, after the stolen helicopter turns up at a radar facility there.

An electromagnetic pulse blast suddenly hits the site, destroying it and Russian fighter aircraft, while knocking out all satellite systems in orbit above.

The newly appointed M assigns Bond to investigate, after it is determined the blast came from a Soviet-era satellite armedcodenamed "GoldenEye".

Although Janus is suspected of initiating the attack, Bond suspects Ourumov, now a general, was involved because the weapon system required high-level military access.

Travelling to Saint Petersburg, Bond is advised by his CIA contact Jack Wade to meet the former KGB agent turned gangster Valentin Zukovsky and have him arrange a meeting with Janus.

Escorted to the meeting by Onatopp, Bond discovers that Janus is led by Trevelyan, who had faked his death at Arkhangelsk, and learns he is descended from the Lienz Cossacks.

Learning that Trevelyan seeks revenge against Britain for betraying his parents, Bond is sedated and trapped in the stolen Tiger alongside Natalya Simonova, a survivor of the Severnaya attack. 

After escaping the helicopter's destruction, the pair are interrogated by Russian Minister of Defence Dimitri Mishkin.

Natalya disclosed Ourumov's involvement in the use of GoldenEye, and that fellow programmer Boris Grishenko survived along with her and is now working for Janus.

Before Mishkin can act on the information, Ourumov kills him and captures Natalya. Bond and Natalya fights with the Ourumov.

Commandeering a tank, Bond eventually pursues Ourumov to a missile train used by Janus. He kills Ourumov and escapes the train with Natalya before it explodes.

Bond and Natalya travel to Cuba, after Boris is traced to a location within the island's jungles. While flying over the area, the pair are shot down.

Onatopp attacks them after they crash land, but Bond kills her during the fight.  And tries to escape from the place.

The pair soon uncover a hidden base beneath a large lake, concealing a satellite dish, and proceed to infiltrate it. 

Bond is captured and learns from Trevelyan that he intends to use GoldenEye to devastate London to conceal the theft of financial records from the Bank of England. 

While Natalya is captured as well, she hacks into the satellite and reprograms it to initiate atmospheric re-entry and thus destroy itself. 

When Boris loses his cool trying to undo her programming, Bond uses the moment to trigger a grenade, concealed in a pen, to allow him and Natalya to escape.

To prevent Boris from regaining control of the satellite, Bond sabotages the dish's antenna by jamming its gears. 

Trevelyan tries stopping him, and the ensuing fight between the two culminates in Trevelyan being dangled below the antenna. 

When Trevelyan asks Bond if he is killing him for England, Bond admits it is for himself before dropping Trevelyan to the ground. 

Natalya soon rescues Bond in a commandeered helicopter, moments before the antenna malfunctions and explodes.

After landing somewhere safe, the pair prepare to enjoy some solitude together, but are interrupted by the arrival of Wade and a team of U.S. Marines, who escort them to Guantanamo base.