John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), a rich man who was also an adventurous, was suddenly dead. He inherited all of his wealth to his nephew Edgar Rice Burroughs (Daryl Sabara) who also called Ned. Ned then was being told by Carter's lawyer about what John Carter doing lately. He was given Carter's diary, where he wrote all of his adventure there. The weird thing about John Carter was that he wanted to be buried in mausoleum which was locked from the inside.
Then the story went back to the time in the past when John Carter, a cavalry officer, was being ordered by Colonel Powell (Bryan Cranston) to join his troop. But he declined. He just wanted to look for a cave where there're lot of gold. Because of this, he was locked in the jail by the colonel. Somehow he managed to escape the prison.
