Intrigue

Fry agrees to travel one minute into the future in Farnsworth's new time machine right before a big date with Leela, but they wind up going far into the future with no way to go back in time.

When Fry tries to sleep, Bender, who is having sex with a female robot, purposely keeps him awake all night long. As a result, Fry ends up oversleeping and arrives at Planet Express late for work. The Professor scolds Fry for being late, and Fry soon realizes that he is also missing out on Leela's birthday lunch. Fry finally arrives at Elzar's Fine Cuisine to meet Leela, only to realize that she has already eaten both of their meals. Leela, also frustrated with Fry for not making it on time, leaves him the bill and leaves.

As Fry returns to Planet Express, he tries to make it up to Leela by taking her out to the Cavern on the Green, though he will end up missing Hedonismbot's "Girls Gone Wildest" bachelor party. Fry, promising not to stand Leela up again, prepares to leave so he can meet right on time, only to be stopped by the Professor, who makes him try out his new one-way time machine, which can only go forward to avoid altering history or doing anything disgusting, such as "having sex with one's grandmother." Fry, who has bought a record-a-message card for Leela, says that he will just have to record it in the machine. As the Professor attempts to send them one minute forward in time while testing out the machine, he trips, taking them too far, and causing Fry's card to fly out the window. As the Professor stops the machine, they end up in the year 10,000, finding New New York in ruins. Back in the year 3010, everyone at Hedionismbot's party (except for Hedionismbot himself) dies as a result of an atomic-powered hooker robot meltdown. Leela, believing that Bender, the Professor, and Fry had been at the party, is overwhelmed with both grief and anger, since she has been stood up again.

After exploring their ruined city, Fry, the Professor, and Bender decide to keep traveling forward in time until a backwards time machine has been invented. Along the way, they find a third Ice Age in 105105, knights riding on ostriches in 252525, a Merman who turns out to be part of a giant shrimp in 351,120, and Earth being ruled by Giraffes in 1,000,000½. In the year 5,000,000, they find a race of purple-skinned humanoids on Earth's surface, while Dumblocks, savage, primitive creatures, live underground. The Professor asks if they have built a backwards time machine, which they haven't. However, they believe they may build one within five years. Five years later, the Dumblocks have emerged from the ground and killed the entire population on the surface.

In 3030, Leela, missing Fry, decides to flirt with a grown-up Cubert, who is shown to strikingly resemble Fry. Meanwhile, in the year 10,000,000, the time-traveling trio finds robots attacking humanity, which impresses Bender. Fry and the Professor, however, immediately send the machine to 50,000,000, where Earth is ruled by beautiful women, who recognize the group as time-travelers. They reveal to have developed backwards time travel, but Bender, still angry at Fry and the Professor for not letting them stay in his favorite future, retaliates by starting up the time machine, resulting in a fight among the three. Fry, however, tells them that they need to keep looking for a backwards time machine, and the Professor agrees. Finally, they arrive in the year 1,000,000,000, where Earth has become an empty wasteland, and all life has gone extinct.

In the year 3050, Planet Express has become a massive, successful corporation, Leela has divorced Cubert after realizing that he is nothing like Fry, and Cubert is now dating Amy, who is now a head on a robotic body. Suddenly, Fry's birthday card appears from the air as the time machine shoots through time, revealing that it flew out the window right at that precise time. This causes Leela to realize that she was angry at Fry for nothing. At the Cavern on the Green, Leela leaves a message for Fry by shooting at the ceiling, hoping he will see it in the distant future. Overtime, water gradually drips from the holes in the ceiling, causing stalagmites that form the message. In 1,000,000,000, Fry explores the remains of the Cavern on the Green and finds Leela's message, which states that although their time together was short, it was the best of her life. Touched by the message, Fry says that he had a good life and suggests that the three travel further in time to watch the end of the universe, which Bender and the Professor agree. They grab a six-pack and start up the time machine, setting it at full-speed.

Through their journey to the end of time, they witness the Sun turning into a red giant, destroying Earth in the process. The Sun vaporizes into a white dwarf, followed by the rest of the stars exploding and the universe collapsing. As the universe expands, the galaxies recede, and finally, the last proton decays. After everything has fizzled out, they are left in darkness. Out of boredom, Fry asks if they want to talk, but Bender is uninterested. All of a sudden, a new Big Bang occurs, startling them. The explosion creates a new universe, which they realize is identical to the original. Upon learning that time is cyclical, the Professor says they should keep going forward in time until they return to the year 3010. They witness the recreation of the Sun, Earth and Moon, evolution, dinosaurs, and "history." The Professor makes a quick stop to shoot Adolf Hitler. As they near their era, the Professor slips once more, and they end up in 10,000 again, forcing them to take another trip through time. On their second trip, the Professor, having Bender control the time machine, does not bother making any stops this time, so when he tries to shoot Hitler again, he misses and accidentally hits Eleanor Roosevelt. They finally return to 3010, only to discover that the new universe is ten feet lower than the old one. They end up crushing their future selves. Fry hurries up and arrives at the Cavern on the Green on time. The two stand on a bridge, and Fry apologizes to Leela for losing her card. She says it is okay, as what she will always remember is their time together. As they look up at the stars, Bender buries the corpses of the time-paradox duplicates.