Dune, based on the first of a series of novels by Frank Herbert, leaps into a future where humanity is spread across many far-flung planets and ruled by an Emperor and an aristocratic class of noble families. The vast distances of the empire are crossed faster than the speed of light only through the abilities bestowed by the spice that grows exclusively on the desert planet Arrakis. Two of the noble families, the Harkonnens and the Atreides, struggle to control production of the spice. When the brutal Harkonnens gain the upper hand, young Paul Atreides (Kyle MacLachlan) must survive and work out a way to reverse the momentum of the struggle. Is Paul the culmination of the breeding project carried out by the secretive organization of gifted women to which his mother Jessica (Francesca Annis) belongs?