Professor Lindenbrock and his friend Alex set out to prove life can exist at the center of the earth. The instructions on a mysterious parchment lead them from Iceland to the crater of a volcano. Professor Kippner, Lindenbrock's rival, announces to the Hamburg Scientific Society that the expedition has been killed in a rock slide. The group survives, but every step of their journey is filled with danger. They overcome electrical storms, cross a phosphorescent sea, escape from prehistoric animals, and even battle swamp monsters. Finally, they find a dinosaur egg, proof that life exists at the earth's core.
A volcanic eruption whirls them out of the ground. They land on Mount Stromboli. Following the birth of a dinosaur, hatched from the egg Lindenbrock found, Professor Kippner is put to shame and Lindenbrock is triumphant.