Since being attacked Leonard Shelby's (Guy Pearce) brain can no longer store short term memories, so he takes Polaroids of all the people he meets. Leonard is on a mission to find the man responsible for the death of his wife, and whenever he finds a new clue to the perpetrator's identity, he tattoos it on his body. And he is getting closer. Or does he only believe that?

Told in two plot strands/timelines, this neo noir thriller was Christopher Nolan's first foray into non-chronological timetwisting narrative.