Cinco jóvenes neoyorquinos celebran junto a sus amigos una fiesta de despedida la misma noche en que un monstruo del tamaño de un rascacielos desciende sobre la ciudad. Contado desde el punto de vista de su videocamara, el film es un documento de sus intentos para sobrevivir el más surrealista y horrible evento de sus vidas.

Cloverfield follows five New Yorkers from the perspective of a hand-held video camera. The movie is exactly the length of a DV Tape and a sub-plot is established by showing bits and pieces of video previously recorded on the tape that is being recorded over. The movie starts as a monster of unknown origin destroys a building. As they go to investigate, parts of the building and the head of the Statue of Liberty come raining down. The movie follows their adventure trying to escape and save a friend, a love interest of the main character.