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As Governor Weatherby Swann and his daughter, Elizabeth, sail to Port Royal, Jamaica, their ship, HMS Dauntless encounters a shipwreck with a sole survivor, the young Will Turner. Elizabeth finds and takes a gold skull medallion from around the unconscious Will's neck and hides it, fearing he will be accused of piracy. She then sees the ghostly Black Pearl. Eight years later, Captain James Norrington of the British Royal Navy is promoted to Commodore. At his ceremony, he proposes to Elizabeth, but before answering, she tumbles into the bay due to an overly tight corset which constricts her breathing. The skull medallion she is wearing emits a mysterious pulse through the water. Meanwhile, pirate Captain Jack Sparrow has arrived in Port Royal to commandeer a ship. Seeing Elizabeth fall, he rescues her, but is promptly arrested for piracy. He escapes and ducks into a blacksmith shop where he encounters Will Turner, now a blacksmith's apprentice and self-taught expert swordsman. Following a swordfight with Turner, Sparrow is knocked unconscious and jailed, to be hanged the next day. That night, Port Royal is besieged by the Black Pearl, having been called by the mysterious pulse from Elizabeth's medallion. Elizabeth is captured and invokes parley— an agreement ensuring one's safety until meeting and negotiating with the captain of the opposing side. To protect her identity, Elizabeth tells Captain Hector Barbossa her last name is "Turner". She negotiates for the pirates to cease the attack on Port Royal in exchange for the medallion. Barbossa agrees, but employing a loophole in their agreement, he keeps Elizabeth prisoner, believing she is the key to breaking an ancient curse they are under.
Unable to persuade Commodore Norrington to take immediate action, Will, who is in love with Elizabeth, persuades Jack Sparrow to help him rescue Elizabeth in exchange for freeing him from jail. Jack agrees only after learning Will's last name. After commandeering HMS Interceptor Jack and Will recruit a crew in Tortuga with help from Jack's friend, Gibbs. They set sail for Isla de Muerta, a mysterious island Jack knows the pirates will go to to break the curse. While sailing their route, Will learns the Black Pearl was formerly commanded by Sparrow. When Jack shared the bearings to a hidden chest of Aztec gold coins, First Mate Barbossa instigated a mutiny and marooned Jack on an island. Jack escaped three days later. The pirates found and spent the treasure but soon learned it was cursed—rendering them into immortal skeletal beings whose true forms are only revealed in moonlight. The curse can only be lifted when every coin and each pirate's blood is returned to the chest. Bootstrap Bill Turner sent a coin to his son, William, believing the crew should remain cursed for what they did to Jack. Barbossa then ordered Bootstrap tied to a cannon and thrown overboard only to realize later his blood is also needed to break the curse; a Turner kin must now take his place. Believing Elizabeth is Bootstrap's child, Barbossa poises her over the Aztec chest, anoints the last coin with her blood and drops it into the chest—unsurprisingly, the curse remains in effect.
On the island, Will suspects Sparrow may betray him and knocks him out. He rescues Elizabeth, and they escape to the Interceptor. Jack barters with Barbossa—in exchange for revealing Bootstrap's real child, he wants to captain the Black Pearl. Jack's negotiations come to naught, however, when the Pearl pursues the Interceptor, sinking her and taking the crew captive. Will reveals that he is Bootstrap Bill's true offspring and demands that Elizabeth and the crew be freed. Otherwise, he threatens to shoot himself and fall overboard, lost forever. Barbossa agrees but craftily applies another loophole and strands Elizabeth and Jack on a deserted island (the same island Jack was marooned on ten years before) and throws Jack's crew into the brig. Will is taken back to Isla de Muerta for the ritual.
Elizabeth burns a cache of abandoned rum to create a signal fire that is spotted by Norrington. She convinces Norrington to rescue Will by accepting his earlier marriage proposal. Arriving at the island, Norrington sets an ambush outside the cave while Jack goes inside and persuades Barbossa to form an alliance. He tells him to delay breaking the curse until after they have taken the Dauntless and killed the crew. Jack then sneaks a coin from the chest, rendering himself immortal. But whatever Jack's actual intent is, his plan goes awry when Barbossa orders his crew to infiltrate the Dauntless from underwater. Jack's true allegiance is revealed when he attacks and then shoots Barbossa. Jack tosses his bloodied coin to Will, who returns the last two medallions to the chest, breaking the curse. No longer immortal, the fatally wounded Barbossa falls dead. Realizing they are no longer cursed, the now-mortal pirates surrender to the navy. Back in Port Royal, Jack is about to be executed. Believing Jack deserves to live, Will rescues him. Both are quickly captured, but Elizabeth lends her support and declares her love for Will. Norrington releases her from their engagement, and Will is pardoned. Meanwhile, Jack escapes by falling into the bay. His crew, who escaped with the Black Pearl, rescues him. Norrington is impressed enough to allow him one day's head start before giving pursuit.
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