Scientist and inventor H. George Wells (Rod Taylor) builds a time machine, and, despite the warning from his friend David (Alan Young) against "tempting the laws of providence," decides to visit the future. Jumping ahead 14 years, he observes changes in women's fashion. Jumping ahead 40, he meets David's son (also Young) amid a terrible war. Finally, he travels thousands of years ahead to discover a post-apocalyptic world inhabited by humanoid Eloi and a monstrous underground race known as the Morlocks that feed on them. Adapted from the H. G. Wells novella of the same name, the film received an Oscar for its use of time-lapse photographic effects.