Multimillionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) has a plan for a spectacular new theme park: a secluded island where visitors can observe actual dinosaurs. With the latest development in DNA technology, scientists can clone brachiosaurs, tricerotops, velociraptors and a Tyrannosaurus Rex, using the blood preserved in amber from insects that bit the dinosaurs long ago.

Paleontologists Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill), Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and Dr. Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are duly impressed with the living results during an advance visit. But when a devious employee tampers with the sophisticated security system, the dinosaurs escape, forcing the visitors to fight for their very survival.