This is the plot of Castle in the Sky.
The Dola gang beginning their incursion on civilian passenger airship Saturn.
One peaceful night, a skyliner travels through the clouds. Aboard, amongst the civilian passengers, are Sheeta, owner of a strange blue stone necklace, and Colonel Muska, the government secret agent who abducted her. Suddenly and without warning, Dola and her gang of air pirates attack the airship in search of Sheeta and her stone. The pirates invade the ship and, during the ensuing chaos, Sheeta manages to knock Muska unconscious and retrieve her stone. The pirates break into Sheeta's room, and she attempts to hide by clinging to the exterior of the ship. However, she loses her grip and plummets into the night sky.
As the unconscious Sheeta hurtles toward the ground, the stone emits a mysterious light, slowing her descent. From the small mining town of Slag Ravine, a young orphan miner named Pazu sees the light of the stone floating down from the sky and runs to investigate. Upon reaching the mineshaft, he reaches out to catch the falling girl. To his amazement, she initially appears weightless... Until her stone stops glowing. Carrying her to safety, Pazu tries to tell his boss, Mr. Duffi, of her sudden appearance but is unable to amidst the bustle of mining work. After the mine is shut down for the night, Pazu decides to take her back to his home.
Morning in Slag Ravine.
The next morning, Sheeta awakens to the sound of Pazu playing his trumpet on the roof. After introductions to each other, Pazu asks to see the stone. Pazu, believing Sheeta's necklace to be the key to her survival, then tries to levitate himself with it, only to crash through the roof of the old blast furnace his home is built on to. After following him down to make sure he didn't hurt himself, Sheeta notices a picture of the legendary kingdom of Laputa on a wall in his home. Pazu explains that it was taken by his father - an avid aviator - and how he saw the floating island among the thick, stormy clouds during an airship trip. Pazu's father returned and made notes on what he imagined the kingdom to be like, but no one believed his discovery, and he died in misery, having been labeled a liar. Pazu enthusiastically tells Sheeta of his plans to finish a huge ornithopter so that he can rediscover Laputa and prove his father right.
It's at this moment, however, that the pirates track Sheeta down to Pazu's house. Pazu disguises her as a boy and, after narrowly avoiding a confrontation with Louis, the two head for town to find help. Meanwhile, Henri and Charles are in the middle of asking Mr. Duffi about Sheeta. The two spot Pazu and Sheeta approaching down the street, just as Sheeta stumbles and loses her hat, revealing her appearance. Pazu and Mr. Duffi put themselves protectively between Sheeta and the pirates before she and Pazu are pulled inside a house by Mr. Duffi's wife, Okami, who instructs them to leave through the backyard. A street brawl starts between the townspeople and the pirates while Pazu and Sheeta sneak away to the nearby railroad and board a small steam train. Dola, after gathering up her men, chases after them. This, however, has not gone unnoticed, as one of Muska's agents spots Sheeta. Despite initially fending off the pirates, Pazu and Sheeta find themselves face-to-face with a heavily armored military train. Discovering that Muska's agent is with them, Sheeta runs, telling Pazu not to follow her, though he does so anyway. The pair are forced off the tracks and seemingly fall to their doom. However, Sheeta's stone activates once again, leaving both the pirates and military troops to watch in awe as they float gently downward.
The two descend safety to the bottom of an abandoned mine shaft. Taking a moment to recuperate from their escape, Sheeta tells Pazu of her home in the valley of Gondoa, and her kidnapping by the military. She apologizes for getting him involved, but Pazu retorts that he wouldn't miss such an exciting adventure for the world. They're then approached by someone, who turns out to be Uncle Pom, an old eccentric miner who lives in the underground. He brings them back to his small camp, where Sheeta asks him if he gets lonely in the mine, and Pom replies that the rocks are his friends and often speak to him. Upon Pazu and Sheeta's confusion, Pom shows them that, in the darkness, the rocks around them come to life, glowing with the power of an ancient element known as Aetherium.
An old mine's Aetherium deposit, glowing in the darkness.
He cracks several open to show them how the elements fades away when it comes in contact with the air. Sheeta notices that her stone is glowing as well. She shows it to Uncle Pom who, in amazement, tells them that it is a pure Aetherium crystal. Uncle Pom explains that only the ancient people of Laputa knew how to create such crystals and, in doing so, were able to construct a huge floating island in the sky. Through this new knowledge, Pazu and Sheeta are able to ascertain that Laputa truly does exist. However, Uncle Pom warns Sheeta that while the crystal contains enormous power, it ultimately belongs to the Earth from which it came, and that to forget that will bring great unhappiness to whoever wields it.
Pazu and Sheeta bid farewell to Uncle Pom and leave the mine, only to be cornered and captured by Muska and the military. They are taken to the coastal military fortification Tedus, and Pazu is locked in the tower. Meanwhile, Muska escorts Sheeta to a room in the bottom of the fort where a deactivated robot soldier is kept. Muska explains that the robot fell from the sky one day, after which the government, with such indisputable proof of the existence of Laputa, put him in charge of discovering the kingdom's secrets. He shows Sheeta that the marking on her crystal is the same as that which is borne by the robot, and insists that the crystal, once activated, will show the way to Laputa. He wants the activation spell, explaining that Laputa's technology is a major threat to world peace, but she has no such knowledge. Muska discloses that her real name, Lusheeta Toel Ul Laputa, indicates that she is the true heir to the throne of Laputa, and threatens that Pazu's fate is in her hands. To protect him, Sheeta relents and tells Pazu to forget about Laputa. Pazu, shocked at Sheeta's request, counters that Laputa means too much to both of them for him to simply forget, but Sheeta tearfully tells him goodbye and leaves. Distraught, Pazu tries to chase after her, but Muska holds him back, telling him to use his head. The fight drained out of him, disheartened and embittered, Pazu starts off home with three gold coins Muska gave him for his services.
By nightfall, Pazu reaches Slag Ravine. He's briefly stopped in the street by Okami, who expresses that they were all very worried for him and asks what happened to Sheeta, to which Pazu simply replies that "it's over now". Overwhelmed by grief and anger, he runs home, only to be greeted by Dola and her pirates, who have taken over Pazu's house as a temporary base. Once they have tied him up, Dola points out that Muska probably won't let Sheeta live after he gets what he wants from her, and how naive he was to have misinterpreted her actions as, by sending him away, she saved his life. Meanwhile, Sheeta, back in her room, remembers and numbly recites a spell that her grandmother taught her to help her when she's in trouble. The crystal, in response to Sheeta's words, activates and, as a result, summons the robot soldier in the basement. Discovering that Sheeta has indeed activated her crystal but injured by the protection spell when he tries to touch it, Muska demands that she tell him the words she used. However, the crystal's power ebbs again once the robot breaks free from the fort's sublevel. Awakened from its dormant state, the robot begins to create havoc within the castle as it attempts to locate Sheeta.
Back home, Pazu asks Dola if he can join her pirates so that he can save Sheeta. Dola agrees, supposing that he'll be useful in getting Sheeta to cooperate, but warns him that he may never return home. Pazu acknowledges this, and they leave for Tedus Fort using the flaptors. Back at the fortress, all attempts to stop the robot soldier have failed, as bullets have no effect, and it easily blasts through the fort's fire doors with a laser hot enough to melt it. High above, Muska exclaims that the power of sacred light in Sheeta's necklace has brought the robot back to life and opened the way to Laputa. The robot, hearing Sheeta's subsequent distress, separates her from Muska and chases her to the top of a tower, where it tries to communicate with her. The crystal, still shining, emits a beam of light towards the sky, which Muska interprets as the location of Laputa. Muska and his agents then cut the communication lines, preventing the General from asking his personnel about the situation and allowing Muska to temporarily issue orders to Air Destroyer Goliath. Suddenly, a blast from the fortress' anti-tank turrets hits the robot and disables it. The force of the blast knocks Sheeta back, and the crystal falls to the ground below. The soldiers rush to the tower thinking that they are victorious and find that Sheeta has been rendered unconscious. However, the robot reactivates. Now in an almost crazed state, it picks up Sheeta and cradles her protectively as it begins to obliterate the entire fortress, firing at anything that appears hostile. Sheeta awakens, only to find the fortress in flames and, shocked by the carnage it has caused, tries to stop the robot by covering its head.
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Sheeta trying to stop the robot she summoned.
Meanwhile, Dola, Pazu and the pirates arrive, and Pazu spots Sheeta atop the tower. Dola orders the others to cover the pair as they head to rescue her, but they are unable to get close enough. Upon her insistence that Dola and Pazu are there to help her, the robot moves Sheeta to a safer place, only to be fired upon by Goliath. Caught in the resulting explosion, Dola is temporarily knocked out, and she and Pazu begin to fall from the sky. However, Pazu manages to reactivate their flaptor just in time, and they save Sheeta from the burning tower, leaving the dead, melted remains of the Laputian robot behind. The pirates make their escape easily, however, the crystal is now in Muska's possession, and is still emitting a beacon towards Laputa.
The pirates, accompanied by Pazu and Sheeta, make it back to their airship, the Tiger Moth. Once there, Dola puts Pazu and Sheeta to work as crew on board the ship. They head east, in the direction Sheeta reports her crystal was shining. Later that night, while Pazu is stationed in the ship's crow's nest keeping watch, Sheeta goes up to talk to him. She confesses to Pazu that she doesn't actually want to go to Laputa, and that she's afraid of someone else dying for her, as the Laputian robot did. Sheeta tells him of the different spells her grandmother taught her, including the Spell of Destruction, which she is never supposed to use. She continues, saying that she had no idea her crystal was so powerful and that she wishes she had thrown it away. Pazu points out to her that, with the rapid advances in aviation technology, someone will sooner or later find Laputa and that they can't let it be someone like Muska. He then makes a heartfelt promise that, once they've stopped Muska and the military, he'll go with her back to Gondoa.
The pair then spot the silhouette of the Goliath in the clouds beneath the Tiger Moth. Pazu wakes the crew, and the Tiger Moth dives into the clouds to avoid confrontation. Pazu and Sheeta convert the crow's nest into a kite and take off to help guide the Tiger Moth towards Laputa, however, they end up delving into the fringes of a powerful storm. Pazu tells Dola to head into the hurricane, as that was what his father did before, and it must be where Laputa is hidden. Before they can do so, the Goliath finds them and attacks. The Tiger Moth is hit, and the kite is disconnected from the ship. Pazu and Sheeta are sucked into the storm. Suddenly, Pazu, while trying to get the kite under control, sees an image of his father. Guided by this, the kite makes it through the storm and emerges into clear sky.
Sheeta and Pazu awaken to find that they have arrived and landed safely on Laputa, the legendary floating kingdom. However, it is abandoned, the lower sections little more than crumbling ruins. Pazu and Sheeta are greeted by a solitary gardener robot who takes care of the lush gardens of the upper portion of Laputa. The robot leads the children to a grave plaque in the central gardens, where the pair discover hundreds of deactivated robots grown into the roots of an enormous tree, which Pazu remarks must've been caretakers as well. The robot offers Sheeta a flower to place on the grave. A family of fox squirrels climb the robot and scamper about it as it walks away, prompting Pazu to make the observation that the robot likely isn't lonely at all; it has the garden and animals to look after. Sheeta, overwhelmed, brushes tears from her eyes. The moment is broken as the sound of an explosion is heard below. Pazu and Sheeta rush from the gardens to find that Goliath has docked on Laputa, and the military is in the midst of raiding the castles' treasure rooms. They see that Dola and the pirates have also been captured, and try to reach them, but Muska and his men discover Pazu as he tries to climb part of the ruins. Sheeta knocks one of the men over, throwing off a gunshot meant for her friend, but is then captured and taken by Muska to the inner chambers of the castle. Meanwhile, Pazu, injured by alive, succeeds in freeing the pirates. Dola gives him a canon and two shells so he can rescue Sheeta.
Muska and Sheeta reach the control center of Laputa, which contains the giant Aetherium crystal that keeps Laputa aloft. Sheeta, wondering how Muska knows so much about Laputa, asks who he really is. Muska reveals his true name - Romska Palo Ul Laputa - and tells her that he is a descendant of a noble Laputian family as well. Now in control of the castle, Muska tells General Mōro and his men to come to the observation room so that he can demonstrate Laputa's power. The general thanks Muska for his services and tries to kill him. Muska, prepared for this, opens up the floor of the observatory and sends the general and his men to their deaths. He then unleashes hundreds of robot soldiers onto the remaining troops. The military quickly retreats to the Goliath in fear, but the robots destroy the airdestroyer.
Muska, looking on as Laputian robots destroy the Goliath.
Horrified by the massacre, Sheeta begs him to stop, to no avail. Breaking free of her restraints, she is able to catch Muska off guard and manages to grab the crystal from him, running into the maze of the Laputian underground. Muska, unable to control Laputa without the crystal, chases after her.
Pazu looks for Sheeta, and finally he finds her amid the passageways, though they are separated by a wall. Desperate not to let Muska have it again, Sheeta passes the stone through a hole and tells Pazu to throw it into the ocean. Muska arrives and tries to shoot Pazu, but he misses, destroying his flying goggles instead. Pazu uses his weapon to enlarge the hole and goes after him. Sheeta reaches the throne room, but Muska corners her. Realizing she's trapped, Sheeta confronts Muska and tells him that he will never truly possess the crystal or Laputa, as he has no compassion and is undeserving of the kingdom. She explains that she understands why the people of Laputa vanished; they lost touch with the ground from which they came, relying on their superior technology to rule rather than love for their people. Muska refuses to believe Sheeta and prepares to kill her. Pazu arrives just in time and tells Muska he'll never get the crystal if he harms Sheeta. Muska allows Pazu to talk to Sheeta for one minute. Pazu asks Sheeta to tell him the Spell of Destruction so they can both say it together, and reassures her that Dola and her pirates escaped. Relieved, Sheeta whispers the spell to him. Pazu tosses his canon aside and, together, they say the spell, causing the crystal to emit a blinding light. This not only blinds Muska, but also releases the Aetherium crystal holding Laputa aloft. The lower portion of the castle crumbles, taking Muska with it, and the great robots, now powerless, fall into the sea.
Dola and the pirates, escaping the destruction on their flaptors, think that Pazu and Sheeta are dead and mourn them. As Laputa ascends, Louis notices that the large Aetherium crystal is still shining, having gotten caught in the roots of the great tree. Pazu and Sheeta manage to survive and find their kite, and bid farewell to what remains of Laputa. They catch up with the pirates and have a joyful reunion, during which the pirates reveal that they managed to grab some of Laputa's treasure after all. Soon after, Pazu and Sheeta say their farewells and head for home. As the story closes, Laputa floats peacefully in the sky, now too high for anyone to reach for a long time.