10,000 BC
At about 10,000 BC, a tribe of hunter-gatherers called the Yagahl live in a remote mountain range in the Urals and survive by killing woolly mammoths. The camp is led by a hunter who has proven his bravery by killing a mammoth single-handedly, and taking the White Spear. The people also strongly venerate an elderly woman, called Old Mother, who has shamanistic powers. As time goes by, the mammoths that supply the people start to dwindle, and the chief of the tribe finds a young girl with blue eyes named Evolet who survived a massacre of her village, perpetrated by what Old Mother calls "four-legged demons" who will come when "the Yagahl go on their last hunt". The chief of the village, not believing in Old Mother's prophecy and desperate to feed his people, leaves and gives the White Spear to his friend Tic'Tic, who also watches over D'Leh, the chief's son. As Tic'Tic alone is entrusted to know of the quest, all the others in the tribe including D'Leh's rival, Ka'Ren, believe that D'Leh's father was a coward and fled. Over time, D'Leh and Evolet fall in love and become close.
When the mammoths finally come, D'Leh and the other men of the tribe hunt them under Tic'Tic's leadership, and D'Leh manages to kill one by luring the beast into impaling itself on his spear, inadvertently winning the White Spear. He also wins Evolet in marriage. However, consumed by the guilt that he did not earn the White Spear fairly, he gives the White Spear up and by effect, forfeits his marriage to Evolet. The next day, Horse-raiders attack the camp, enslaving Evolet and several others and killing many of the tribe. D'Leh, Tic'Tic, Ka'Ren and the young boy Baku set out to rescue Evolet and their fellow Yagahl, but she is recaptured with Ka'Ren and Baku during an attack on the slavers by Terror Birds. Tic'Tic is wounded by the predators during the battle. D'Leh and the injured Tic'Tic continue on. When D'Leh is out hunting, he falls into a pit-trap. When he wakes from the fall, he rescues a Smilodon trapped with him in the pit and then escapes himself. After Tic'Tic recovers, they make their way to a village nearby and learn of a prophecy from the Naku, a tribe they meet: whoever talks to a Smilodon that they call the "Spear-Tooth" will help free their people. D'Leh realizes the prophecy is about him when the sabertooth refuses to kill him when they next meet. They also learn that D'Leh's father, the chief of the Yagahl, was a guest of the Naku and learned from them until the slavers took him captive and Tic'Tic finally reveals to D'Leh why his father left.
Several tribes agree to form a coalition to pursue the raiders that stole their families with D'Leh as their leader. They soon find the ships holding Evolet and their companions. However, with no means to follow the ships, they journey through a vast desert, eventually discovering an advanced civilization similar to ancient Egypt, ruled by an enigmatic figure known as "The Almighty", where Evolet, Baku and the other kidnapped Yagahl are forced to work as slaves. There, the warlord who kidnapped Evolet tries to coerce her into loving him, only to be arrested by The Almighty when they find he has taken her without permission. During a night scouting raid, D'Leh learns of the Almighty and the fate of his father, who perished as a slave. However, the guards see them and attempt to warn the Almighty. Tic'Tic dies from injuries sustained in the fight that follows with the guards, though not before killing them before they can raise the alarm. The Almighty's priests also meanwhile come to believe that Evolet is destined to kill The Almighty, based on the whip scars on her hands matching the stars they call the "Mark of the Hunter" and an ancient prophecy foreseeing their civilization's downfall. The Almighty realizes that Evolet is not the focus of the procephy, but the hunter's (D'Leh's) herald. D'Leh then starts a rebellion among the slaves, killing many of the Almighty's forces, though Ka'Ren is killed.
The Almighty offers Evolet and the other hunters to D'Leh in exchange for abandoning his rebellion. D'Leh feigns acceptance of the deal but throws a spear at The Almighty and kills him. During the ensuing battle, Evolet dies at the hands of the warlord before he in turn is killed by D'Leh, but is restored to life by the Old Mother sacrificing her own life with her powers. With the Almighty and his people dead and his civilization destroyed, the Yagahl bid farewell to the other tribes and return home with seeds given to them by the Naku people to begin farming and start a new life.
romantic, murder