Walking in a frozen wasteland, Dr. Joe Buchanan remembers demonstrating his “prototype laser” at the Hawkings Institute in California. Its particle beams obliterate a model of the Statue of Liberty. He tells observer General Reade that the weapon will likewise make enemy troops disappear. However, the institute’s information officer reminds Joe that the U.S. President is concerned that his experiments may have caused recent freak weather and “time slips.” Joe explains that an object’s disappearance creates a “black hole,” which may be a problem. As Joe drives home in his computer-driven car, a television announcer reports that “stratospheric disturbances” are linked to experiments at the Hawkings Institute. When Joe gets home, a storm cloud opens and a ball of light delivers a Mongolian horseman, who throws a spear at him. The warrior is sucked back into the cloud, replaced by a fireball that engulfs Joe. He awakens next to his car. The car’s feminine computer voice tells him she can neither confirm their position nor connect with the Hawkings mainframe because there are no satellites. Joe drives to an abandoned barn, parks inside, and walks to a village. He stops at an inn and sells a gold ring to the innkeeper for fifty Swiss francs plus dinner. Seeing a distinguished looking man reading a Geneva, Switzerland, newspaper dated 22 May 1817, Joe sits at his table and explains his strange clothing by introducing himself as an American. The man says he is Dr. Victor Frankenstein, which surprises Joe because he believed Frankenstein was a fictional character. Frankenstein is unfriendly, but fascinated by Joe’s wristwatch. When the innkeeper expresses his condolences for the death of the doctor’s little brother, Frankenstein becomes agitated and leaves. Joe runs after his carriage and hops unseen on the back. When the carriage stops, Frankenstein gets out, crosses a footbridge, and walks into the woods. Through vegetation and rain, Joe sees Frankenstein yelling at someone, but in an avalanche of small rocks, Joe falls backward and is knocked unconscious. He awakens, returns to his car, and drives to the outskirts of Geneva. He parks in the forest, and walks into the city, where he buys contemporary clothing and explores the streets until he sees Dr. Frankenstein and his fiancée, Elizabeth LaVenza. He follows the couple to the trial of Justine Moritz, a peasant girl charged with murdering William Frankenstein. Joe sees a woman sitting alone, and asks a parson if it would be proper to take a seat next to her. The parson identifies her as Mary Godwin, mistress of Lord Byron, who lives across Lake Geneva with poet Percy Shelley. Sitting next to Mary, Joe tells her he admires her writing, but she answers that she has never published anything. A peasant witness tells the court he saw a giant kill his sheep, and suspects the same creature murdered the Frankenstein boy, but the crowd mocks him. The prosecutor insists that since the child’s locket was found in Justine’s possession, she must have killed him. Justine is found guilty and sentenced to be hanged the following day. Afterward, Joe follows Dr. Frankenstein as he puts Elizabeth into her carriage, then Frankenstein walks alone out of the city and into the woods. Just past the footbridge, he encounters a huge man with a demon-like face, accuses him of murdering his brother, and fires a pistol, but misses. Bemoaning his intense loneliness, the monster demands that Frankenstein create “a mate” for him, or else he will kill Elizabeth. After the brute runs into the forest, Joe confronts Dr. Frankenstein and begs that he reveal what he has done, in order to save Justine Moritz from being hanged. Joe takes the doctor to his car and returns to the barn. Using Joe’s modern pen, Frankenstein writes a letter, supposedly exonerating Justine, and tells Joe to deliver it to his fiancée in the morning, because she comes from a powerful family that can sway the judge. The next morning, Joe delivers Frankenstein’s letter to Elizabeth, but she refuses to help because the letter warns that her life is in danger and she must leave Geneva. Joe returns to his car and, relying on the computer’s historical knowledge, drives around Lake Geneva to reach Villa Diodati, where the English poets Bryon and Shelley reside. On the way, his computer prints out a copy of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. Overhead, a familiar ominous cloud formation forms. When Joe arrives at the country estate, Lord Byron confronts him with a pistol, but Joe distracts him by offering him a pair of binoculars. Byron introduces him to Percy Shelley, who is mesmerized by the strange cloud overhead. The poet wonders aloud if it could be a gateway to a distant world. Mary enters and recognizes Joe from the trial. He asks if she can help Justine, but Mary has no idea what she could do. Joe hurries back to Geneva as Justine is led to the gallows. He grabs an axe and tries to stop the execution, but townspeople beat him. The trap door drops, killing the girl. Townspeople carry Joe to the lake and toss him in. He awakens to see the face of Mary Godwin, who reveals she rowed across the lake to rescue him. Joe calls for his car, which comes to them, and he drives Mary home. Villagers and farmers are shocked as the futuristic automobile passes. Confessing that he comes from the future, Joe shows Mary the computer readout of her book, which she has only begun. She is shocked that the future knows her as Mary Shelley. Joe points to the cloud overhead and tells her that, like Dr. Frankenstein, he tried to do the world a favor, but created a monster instead. At the villa, Joe and Mary discuss the future, then make love. Meanwhile, Elizabeth LaVenza prepares to leave Geneva. Joe returns to the barn and finds Frankenstein waiting. In order to create a mate for his monster, he needs to draw upon a storm’s electricity, but perhaps Joe’s car can supply enough to do the job. Joe warns him not to do it, and shows him an electronic copy of Mary’s novel, Frankenstein. Not far away, the monster stops Elizabeth’s carriage and attacks her. Hurrying toward her screams, Joe and Victor Frankenstein find the monster standing over her broken body. Mocking how “poorly made” humans are, the monster demands that Frankenstein make improvements when creating his mate. Villagers arrive and try to hang Joe, but the monster kills many of them and sends the rest running. Frankenstein warns the monster not to hurt the unconscious Joe, because his scientific knowledge will be helpful. Joe awakens in Frankenstein’s lab inside an abandoned church. The doctor has commandeered his car as a power source and read the car’s instructions, in case Joe does not cooperate. The monster gives Joe the choice of helping or dying. Joe wonders if another laser gun implosion might open a time slip and transport him somewhere else. While Frankenstein is busy in the lab, Joe sees storm clouds gathering and asks the monster to carry one end of an electrical cable to the top of the church steeple and attach the coil to the metal cross. Once the connection is made, Joe tells the car to load the “laser implosion program” and fire particle beams at the church when it reaches maximum power. Returning to the lab, he sees that Frankenstein has reconstructed Elizabeth. The car’s lasers light up the church. Simultaneously, lightning from the storm activates Frankenstein’s equipment and revives Elizabeth. Suddenly, Joe’s implosion device transports part of the church and the four inside to a frozen future world. Frankenstein demands Joe restore them to 1817 Switzerland, but he is unable to do so. As the monster embraces Elizabeth, Frankenstein calls her to him. Enraged by jealousy, the monster attacks. Frankenstein cocks his musket pistol and prepares to fire, but Elizabeth grabs the barrel and presses it to her chest as the gun goes off, killing her. The monster breaks Frankenstein’s back. Joe packs a new gunpowder charge into the musket and chases the creature into the snow. Finding a hatchway into an underground system, Joe descends into tunnels and finds his old laboratory, whose computer welcomes him home. The monster walks in, and Joe fires, but the musket ball only slows it down. Running to his laser, Joe fires and sends the monster into a black hole. Now, Joe wanders through a snowy, desolate world.