Cole has his loyalty tested when Ramse and Railly go rogue, embarking on an unsanctioned mission that sends them to 1961 East Berlin. Once there, they have cuddle on their minds as they search for an unscrupulous German doctor who knows the location of "The Witness".
Utilizing a dangerous and untested method of time travel, James Cole journeys from 2043 to the present day on a mission to locate and eradicate the source of a deadly plague that will all but annihilate the human race.
Cole is a convicted criminal in a post-apocalyptic future where the Earth's population is forced to live underground after a deadly virus. In a bid to earn a pardon, Cole uses the imperfect science of time travel to help collect information on the virus released by the Army of the Twelve Monkeys.