Members of the Homo erectus Wagabu tribe attack the Homo neanderthalensis Ulams. The Wagabus kill many of the Ulams and unsuccessfully attempt to steal a flaming branch from the fire that the tribe keeps perpetually burning. A small number of the Ulams escape, including their fire tender, who accidentally extinguishes the flame as he falls while crossing a marsh to join the remnants of the tribe. With their fire gone, the Ulam face imminent threat from freezing and starvation. The tribe sends three men, Naoh, Amoukar and Gaw, on a quest to steal more fire from a natural blaze or another tribe. During their journey, they encounter several different kinds of wild beasts (mammoths and smilodons) and other primitive human beings. Eventually, the Ulam trio enters territory of the Kzamm tribe (Homo neanderthalensis), cannibals (in fact, they were not eating members of their own species) who have captured two members of the Ivaka tribe (homo sapiens sapiens) and have begun eating one of their severed arms. Naoh manages to steal some fire from the Kzamms, but he is injured in a fight with two of them. He rejoins Gaw and Amoukar. A young woman named Ika, an Ivaka prisoner who escapes with Naoh, joins them seeking protection. One day, Ika recognizes that she is near her home. She tries to persuade the Ulam trio to go with her, but either lack of a common language or a sense of purpose keeps them on their way back to the Ulam. When Ika leaves them the next morning, Naoh is upset and at first continues on without her, but becomes increasingly agitated before he turns back to follow her. Naoh leaves Gaw and Amoukar behind to investigate the village they come across and he is captured by the Ivakas.

At first, he is gawked at and teased by the more advanced Ivaka, but the tribe's elders decide that his size, strength, and healthy teeth would be useful additions to the Ivaka gene pool. While they circle his tent, yelling and clapping, he is encouraged to plant his seed in a plump female who settles onto the floor of his hut with her rump in the air. The Ivakas accept Naoh as one of their own and he begins to adopt their style and ways. The Ivaka tribe is the most advanced tribe depicted in the film. They use atlatls, arts (body painting, huts, ornaments, gourd vessels), and most importantly, fire. When Naoh is taught to make fire by rubbing sticks together, he is awed and overwhelmed. Growing impatient, Gaw and Amoukar go to find Naoh and are also captured. During their ordeal, they are disturbed to realize that one of the teasers is Naoh, initially unrecognizeable as he now wears the full body-paint of the Ivaka. Gaw and Amoukar steal some of the Ivakas' fire and escape during the night, knocking the unwilling Naoh unconscious with a rock and carrying him off. Ika sees them taking her paramour and follows the trio into the night. On their way back to the Ulams, a cave bear attacks and severely wounds Gaw. While carrying him off they are attacked by a band of renegade Ulams, whom they kill with spear throwers taken from the Ivaka. Upon rejoining the Ulam tribe they hand the smoldering embers to the fire tender, who immediately stumbles into the marsh and extinguishes the flame. Naoh tries to create fire by using some twigs, dung and dry grasses. After several failed attempts, Ika takes over, carefully rubbing the dry sticks together. Once the spark is lit, the tribe is overjoyed, silent and overwhelmed. The final shot of the movie reveals Naoh and a pregnant Ika embracing in the moonlight. Besides all the epic story, the film is about a supposed age when three human species (homo erectus, homo sapiens and homo neanderthalensis), cohabitated the planet. Quest For Fire follows the theory that there was a "fusion" between neandertals, less developed, and modern men, owner, at this time, of a certain technology. Homo erectus would have been defeated in virtue of its "primitiveness". Today, most scientists believe that while the three species cohabited the planet, there were never areas where all three co-existed.

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