Publisher's Synopsis
Four years after the events on Isla Nublar, an upper-class British family docks their yacht and has come ashore on Isla Sorna, unaware that the island contains genetically engineered dinosaurs. Their daughter wanders off and is attacked by a group of Compsognathus, but is saved by her father and yacht crew.An ailing John Hammond invites disgraced mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm to his New York residence to discuss the recent incident. Hammond's company InGen, which created the dinosaurs, is now headed by Hammond's nephew Peter Ludlow, who used the incident to take control of the company from Hammond. Ian learns that InGen originally cloned the dinosaurs on Isla Sorna, but the island was abandoned during a hurricane and the animals were released into the wild to fend for themselves. Ludlow wants to exploit the island's creatures to save InGen from bankruptcy. Hammond asks Ian to join a team who will document the dinosaurs in their natural habitat, in order to encourage a policy of non-interference. Ian's girlfriend, paleontologist Dr. Sarah Harding, was hired and is already on Isla Sorna. Upon hearing this, Ian reluctantly agrees to go to the island, but only to retrieve Sarah.Ian travels there with Eddie Carr, an equipment specialist and engineer, and Nick Van Owen, a video documentarian and activist. They find Sarah amidst a herd of Stegosaurus, but she is insistent on staying to continue her research. Ian is shocked when he discovers that his daughter Kelly has stowed away with the team in a trailer, which serves as their mobile base. Ludlow and a mercenary team arrive on the island to capture dinosaurs, with help from big-game hunters Roland Tembo and Ajay Sidhu, Roland's second-in-command Dieter Stark and paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke.Malcolm's group realizes that Ludlow and the InGen team are planning to take the captured specimens back to the mainland and to an unfinished Jurassic Park attraction in San Diego, which Hammond abandoned in favor of the park on Isla Nublar. Nick and Sarah free the captured dinosaurs, allowing the animals to wreak havoc across the InGen team's camp. On the way back to the trailer, Nick rescues an injured Tyrannosaurus rex infant that Roland tried to use as bait to hunt its male parent. Nick and Sarah treat the infant for a broken leg, but the Tyrannosaurus adults arrive. They reclaim their infant, destroy the trailer, and devour Eddie during his attempt to rescue the group.Ian, Sarah, Nick, and Kelly are subsequently rescued by Ludlow's team, and are forced to work together with them after learning that they've lost all their communicative equipment as well. They elect to walk en-masse to a distant abandoned InGen base to call for help. During a break, Stark goes into the wilderness alone to relieve himself and is killed by a group of Compsognathus. After the team sets up a camp for the night, they are ambushed by the Tyrannosaurus adults: Burke is devoured, and everyone else flees into a field of long grass containing a pack of Velociraptors, where Ajay and the others are all killed.Ian, Sarah, Kelly, and Nick manage to reach the InGen base, fight off three Velociraptors, and successfully radio for helicopter extraction. After being rescued, Nick reveals that he stole Roland's ammunition to prevent him from killing his intended trophy, but while passing overhead, they notice that Roland subdued the male Tyrannosaurus with tranquilizers instead. As more InGen personnel arrive on the island to secure the male and the infant, Roland declines a job offer at the San Diego park from Ludlow, reflecting on Ajay's death and the morality of Ludlow's scheme.