Intrigue

In the 18th century, Governor Weatherby Swann (Jonathan Pryce) and his daughter, Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), sail aboard HMS Dauntless. Lieutenant Norrington's (Jack Davenport) crew recovers a shipwrecked survivor, Will Turner (Orlando Bloom). Elizabeth takes a gold medallion from around Will's neck before seeing a ship with black sails.

Eight years later in Port Royal, Jamaica, Norrington is promoted to commodore and proposes to Elizabeth at Fort Charles. Elizabeth's tight corset makes her faint and fall into the water below, causing the medallion to emit a pulse. The Port Royal has 2 ships with the Royal Navy, The Dauntless and The Interceptor. The Interceptor is considered to be the fastest ship in the navy, second only to the cursed Black Pearl, a ship rumored to be with black sails and captained by a man so evil, that hell itself spat him back out. Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp), who initially arrived to "commandeer" a ship (and was nearby inspecting the Interceptor when Elizabeth falls over), jumps into the water and rescues Elizabeth (and sees the gold medallion around her neck) before escaping Commodore Norrington, who identifies Jack with his pirate brand. Will, now a blacksmith, meets Jack inside his shop where Jack enters to remove his chains. Will fights Jack long enough for Sparrow to be imprisoned. Elizabeth and Will are friends.

That night, Port Royal is attacked by the Black Pearl, the ship Elizabeth saw years earlier, searching for the medallion. Black Pearl sprays the port with cannon fire before the pirates enter the town in search of the medallion, when the town is in chaos. The pirates led by Pintel (Lee Arenberg) and Ragetti (Mackenzie Crook) reach Elizabeth's mansion to take the medallion. Invoking parley (The term written as "parlay" on the Pirata Codex was known as a right in the Code of the Pirate Brethren, set down by Morgan and Bartholomew, that allowed any person to invoke temporary protection and brought before the captain to "negotiate" without being attacked until the parley is complete), Elizabeth is taken aboard to meet Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). Elizabeth negotiates that Barbossa stop firing on Port Royal in exchange for the medallion. Although she gives her name as "Elizabeth Turner" to conceal her identity as the governor's daughter, Barbossa takes Elizabeth with them upon hearing the name "Turner".

Barbossa explains that the medallion is one of 882 Aztec gold pieces in a stone chest used to bribe Cortes to stop his slaughter, but because of Cortes's greed, the heathen Gods placed a curse on the gold. Any man who spent even a single piece of this gold would be punished for eternity. Barbossa's crew found the treasure at Isla De Muerta, but after spending it, they feel and taste nothing, and turn into immortal Undead skeletons in the moonlight. To lift the curse, Barbossa's crew must return all the gold with their blood. Having discovered that "Bootstrap Bill" Turner sent a piece to his child, Barbossa sent Bootstrap to the bottom of the ocean. Assuming Elizabeth is Bootstrap's child, Barbossa intends to use her blood instead.

Will wants Norrington to find Elizabeth, and take Jack's help, but Norrington refuses to deal with pirates. To save Elizabeth, Will frees Jack, who learns that Turner is the son of Bootstrap Bill. Jack agrees to take Will to the Black Pearl and to Elizabeth. Jack says that the Black Pearl berths at Isla De Muerta. They distract Norrington with a staged attempt to steal the Dauntless, allowing them to commandeer the HMS Interceptor. Jack says that Will's father Bootstrap Bill was a pirate, which dismays Will. They head to Tortuga to find Joshamee Gibbs (Kevin R. McNally) and recruit a crew. Gibbs agrees to join Jack when he learns that Will is the only living son of Bootstrap Bill Turner. Will learns from Gibbs that Sparrow was captain of the Black Pearl before Barbossa organized a mutiny and marooned him on an island. Jack was given a pistol with one bullet in it. Despite going mad with heat, Jack saved the shot for Barbossa. He escaped the island by roping together sea turtles and making a raft.

Arriving at Isla De Muerta, Jack and Will sneak into the treasure grotto, where Barbossa fails to lift the curse with Elizabeth's "Turner" blood. Barbossa is livid since the pirates have waited for 10 years to repay the terms of the curse. Barbossa wants Elizabeth to reveal who is the real child of Bill Turner. As the pirate crew bicker among each other, Will and Elizabeth escape with the medallion on the Interceptor, while Sparrow is captured by Barbossa and locked in the brig aboard the Pearl, when Jack says that he knows the identity of the real Turner child.

A battle ensues between the Pearl and the Interceptor, with the crew captured and the ship destroyed. Having realized it is his blood Barbossa needs, Will surrenders himself to ensure Elizabeth's freedom. Barbossa agrees but maroons Jack and Elizabeth on an Island. It is the same island where Jack was marooned before by Barbossa. Jack reveals that run runners used the island as a base to store their rum, and Jack was able to barter a passage with them after waiting for only 3 days. But now, the rum runners are out of business due to Norrington. The next morning, Elizabeth makes a smoke signal, then Jack and Elizabeth are rescued aboard the Dauntless. Elizabeth accepts Norrington's marriage proposal on the condition to rescue Will from Barbossa.

That night, Jack and Norrington make a plan to ambush the pirates at Isla De Muerta, but Norrington plans to ambush the pirates himself and Sparrow convinces Barbossa to not lift the curse until after they've killed Norrington's men. Having anticipated the battle to come, Jack secretly palms a coin for himself to become immortal, then frees Will and duels Barbossa in the cave. As Norrington's crew battle skeletons aboard the Dauntless, Elizabeth sneaks off to free Jack's crew, who flee on the Pearl, leaving Swann to save Will and Jack by herself. After Elizabeth helps defeat some of Barbossa's crewmen, Sparrow shoots Barbossa just as Will returns both remaining coins with their blood into the chest, lifting the curse. Now mortal, Barbossa dies from Sparrow's gunshot, and the rest of Barbossa's crew are killed or surrendered.

At Port Royal, Will declares his love for Elizabeth, before rescuing Jack, who was about to be hanged. After a scuffle, Jack and Will are surrounded. Elizabeth stands by their side, choosing Turner over Norrington, who stands down. Sparrow falls into the water, then is rescued by the Black Pearl and her new crew. Norrington decides to give Sparrow "one day's head start" before pursuit. Governor Swann gives his blessings to Will and Elizabeth, while Jack Sparrow is made captain of the Pearl and sails off to the horizon.