In the distant future, the ship ''Hunter-Gratzner'' is transporting passengers in suspended animation. Among those, a Muslim preacher who goes by the title "Imam" accompanied by three young sons traveling to New Mecca, a boy named Jack, a pair of Prospecting named Shazza and Zeke, a merchant named Paris, and a law enforcement officer, William J. Johns, escorting the notorious criminal Richard B. Riddick. Riddick has illegally surgically modified eyes that allow him to see in the dark but are highly sensitive to light.

Richard B. Riddick has been in hiding for five years, evading bounty hunters and mercenaries sent to capture him. After killing a crew led by the mercenary Toombs and stealing his ship, he heads to New Mecca on the planet Helion Prime in the Helion System, after Toombs reveals his bounty originated there. Riddick is reunited with Imam, the man he rescued in Pitch Black (film). Imam believes Riddick is a Furian, a race of warriors long thought extinct, and wants to know about his homeworld and if anyone other than himself is left. Imam believes Helion Prime is the next planet to be conquered by a mysterious force crusading across the stars. Aereon, an Air Elemental, identifies the army as the Necromongers, religious fanatics who seek to convert everyone and kill those who refuse. The Necromongers attack, and take control of the capital in a single night. In the battle, Imam is killed and Riddick escapes.

Left for dead on a sun-scorched planet, Riddick finds himself up against an alien race of predators. Activating an emergency beacon alerts two ships: one carrying a new breed of mercenary, the other captained by a man from Riddick's past.