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The prologue depicts a young Indiana
Jones in 1912 as a Boy Scout in Utah, battling grave robbers for the Cross
of Coronado, an ornamental cross belonging to Francisco Vásquez de Coronado.
As the foiled grave robbers give chase, Indiana hides in a circus
train, in the process using a whip,
scarring his chin, and gaining a fear of snakes. Although he rescues
the cross, the robbers tell the Sheriff that Indiana was the thief, and
he is forced to return it, while his oblivious father, Henry, is
working on his research into the Holy Grail, keeping meticulous notes
in a diary. The leader of the hired robbers, dressed very similarly to
the future Indiana and impressed by the young man's tenacity, gives him
his fedora and
some encouraging words. In 1938, Indiana manages to recover the cross
from the robbers' ship, and donates to Marcus
Brody's museum.
Indiana is introduced to the wealthy Walter Donovan, who informs
him that Indy's father has vanished while searching for the Holy Grail,
using an incomplete stone tablet as his guide. Indy receives a package
which turns out to be his father's Grail diary, containing all his
life's research on the Grail. Understanding that his father would not
have sent the diary unless he was in trouble, Indiana and Marcus travel
to Venice, where they meet Henry's colleague Dr. Elsa Schneider. Indiana and
Elsa discover catacombs beneath the library where Henry was last seen,
and discover the tomb of Sir Richard, a knight of the First Crusade,
with a complete version of the stone tablet that Henry used. They flee
the catacombs when they are set aflame by The Brotherhood of the
Cruciform Sword, and manage to capture the cult's leader, Kazim. After
Indiana convinces him of their intentions, Kazim explains The
Brotherhood are protecting the Grail, and that Henry was abducted to a
castle on the Austrian-German border.
Indiana and Elsa infiltrate the
castle. Indiana finds his father, but learns that Elsa and Donovan are
working with the Nazis
to seek the grail, hoping that Indiana would discover its location. The
Nazis manage to capture Marcus, who had traveled to Iskenderun, Hatay with the
maps to the Grail's location and seek out the protection of Sallah. The
Joneses are able to escape and recover the diary from Elsa who had
taken it to Berlin, and then manage to escape from Germany. They meet
with Sallah in Hatay and learn of Marcus' abduction and that the Nazis,
backed with resources from the country's leader, are already moving to
the Grail's location. With the help of The Brotherhood, the Joneses
ambush the convoy and are able to rescue Marcus, though Donovan and
Elsa continue on to the Canyon of the Crescent Moon, where the Grail is
located.
The Joneses, Marcus, and Sallah
manage to catch up and find that the Nazis are unable to pass through
traps set by the Grail. The four are discoverd, and Donovan mortally
shoots Henry, forcing Indiana to circumnavigate the traps using the
information in his father's diary, with Donovan and Elsa shortly
following him. Indiana succeeds and finds the last Knight of the First
Crusade, kept alive with the power of the Grail, and whom has hidden
the Grail among several other cups. After being told to "choose
wisely", Elsa selects the cup she believes to be the Grail, but when
Donovan tries it, the water he drinks from it ages him dramatically
into ashes. Indiana, recognizing that the Grail would be that of a
humble carpenter instead of a wealthy king, selects the correct vessel,
and quickly takes water in it to his father, which heals his wounds
instantly. As they prepare to leave, the Knight warns them to not take
the Grail out of the temple, but Elsa does so, causing the temple to
collapse. Elsa falls into a ravine in the ground attempting to recover
the Grail, and Indiana almost meets the same fate until his father
tells him to let it go. The Joneses, Marcus, and Sallah flee the
collapsing temple and ride off together, after Henry tells the group
that "Indiana" was actually their dog's name.
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