Plot
While the film is shown in a nonlinear narrative, including the action of one week on the beach, one day in the rescue flotilla, and one hour of the air battle, the following is the chronological order of events that happen in the film.
In the summer of 1940, during the Battle of France, Allied soldiers retreat to Dunkirk. A British soldier named Tommy loses his squadmates and flees through the perimeter held by French troops to the beach, where thousands await evacuation. He helps another soldier, Gibson, bury a body and survive a Luftwaffe dive-bomber attack. They rush a wounded man on a stretcher onto a hospital ship at the single, vulnerable mole, overseen by Commander Bolton, available for embarking on deep-draft ships, but are ordered off again. Together, they hide underneath the pier in hopes of sneaking back on, but the ship is sunk by German aircraft.
Tommy saves a Highlander, Alex, from being crushed by the wreck of the sinking ship. Tommy and Gibson submerse themselves underwater and masquerade as some of the boat’s survivors in order to be let onto the next available ship. That night, the three board a destroyer, but it is hit by a U-boat torpedo before it can depart. Gibson saves Tommy and Alex while escaping the sinking ship by opening the door to below-deck, and they all return to the beach.
The Royal Navy requisitions civilian vessels in England for the evacuation. In Weymouth, civilian sailor Dawson and his son Peter set out in his boat Moonstone, rather than let the Navy commandeer her. Their teenage hand George joins them on impulse. In the English Channel, they save an officer, now shell-shocked after surviving a U-boat sinking. Realising Dawson is going to Dunkirk, the officer grows fearful and Peter locks him up. He escapes, urging they turn back, and tries to wrest control of the boat; in the scuffle, he elbows George, who falls down a staircase and suffers a severe head injury.
Three Royal Air Force (RAF) Spitfires fly towards Dunkirk to provide cover for the evacuation, limited to one hour of operation by their fuel supply. They engage in a dogfight with a Messerschmitt Bf 109. After shooting it down, one of the pilots, Farrier, has his fuel gauge smashed and cannot read how much he has left. He and the second Spitfire pilot, Collins, determine their leader has gone down and fly on with Collins radioing Farrier about their remaining fuel. The crew of the Moonstone witness the two RAF pilots protect a minesweeper from a bomber escorted by fighters: Collins's Spitfire is hit and he ditches. Initially trapped in his canopy as the plane sinks, Collins is saved by Peter.
Becoming increasingly desperate, Tommy, Alex and Gibson join Highlanders in a grounded trawler in the intertidal zone outside the perimeter, hoping the tide will float them home. After its Dutch sailor returns, Germans start shooting at the boat, and water enters through the bullet holes.
Alex, attempting to lighten the craft to keep it afloat, accuses Gibson (who has been silent the entire time) of being a German spy despite Tommy's defences and pleas. He turns the rest of the soldiers against Gibson, using the logic that he must either speak German, or can only speak English with a very thick German accent. Scared for his life, Gibson reveals he is actually French, meaning that he took on the identity of the buried soldier in hopes of being evacuated earlier.
During the scuffle to try and force Gibson out, all the soldiers are thrown to one side, which dislodges the ship and allows the tide to finally lift the trawler. The group has to eventually abandon the boat, as they cannot stop the intruding water after taking more hits. As they leave, Gibson is entangled by a chain, and drowns with the sinking ship.
Farrier, knowing his fuel is running out, decides to keep flying to chase down German aircraft. He engages a German bomber attacking a destroyer. The ship is bombed and sinks, but Farrier is able to down the plane before it can attack the escaping crew. The crashing plane ignites the oil on the water, but members of the crew, as well as Tommy and Alex, are saved by Moonstone, which had manoeuvred to save the men in the water.
Alex points out to Peter that George has already died of his injuries when they are all asked to be careful below-deck. Shortly after, the shell-shocked officer asks Peter if he will be okay, to which he lies and assures him that he will be alright. Dawson has Moonstone evade an aerial attack using a technique taught by his deceased elder son, a pilot lost at the start of the war.
Farrier reaches Dunkirk just as his fuel runs out, shooting down a dive-bomber approaching the mole to the jubilation of the soldiers below.
Once Moonstone makes landfall, the shell-shocked officer and Collins part ways with the Dawsons, as Peter honours George's desire to do something useful enough to be mentioned in the paper by arranging a publication of his obituary. At the same time, Tommy and Alex board a train with the other evacuees.
With over 300,000 men successfully evacuated, Bolton chooses to stay and oversee the French evacuation next.
Upon reaching England, Alex requests a newspaper from a young boy at the train tracks. He cannot bear to read it, fearful that they will be spit at in the streets for failing. Instead, they are actually heralded by the public upon their arrival at Woking.
Farrier glides safely onto the beach; however, he is far beyond the perimeter. After destroying the Spitfire to prevent it from falling into enemy hands, he is captured by German forces.
Tommy reads the paper for Alex, which is quoting Churchill's address to Parliament, pledging that Britain will fight on.
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