In 2005, Private Joe Bowers (Luke Wilson) is a soldier chosen to take part in a secret military scientific experiment in which he will be put into induced hibernation for one year, along with a woman named Rita (Maya Rudolph). Bowers is chosen for the assignment because he is statistically the most average man in the army, while Rita is a hooker ordered to do community service.

Unfortunately, Bowers and Rita are forgotten about when the military base where the experiment took place is closed down, and when they wake up in the year 2505. Bowers finds himself living in a society where intelligence has taken such a landslide he's now the smartest man in the world.