Following a nuclear war, former police officer Max Rockatansky has been captured by the War Boys, led by the Immortan Joe. Upon arriving at the Citadel, Max attempts to escape only to be recaptured. He is then designated as a blood donor and is used as a "blood bag" for a dying War Boy named Nux. Imperator Furiosa, one of Joe's lieutenants, is sent to drive the War Rig to Gas Town in order to collect more gasoline, but ends up going rogue by driving off-route. Realizing that Furiosa has helped five of Joe's Wives escape, named Capable, Cheedo, Toast, the Dag, and Splendid Angharad, the last of which is Joe's most prized Wife and is also pregnant with Joe's child, Joe and the War Boys pursue Furiosa while getting help from allies at the Bullet Farm and Gas Town.
Nux soon joins the War Boys in the pursuit, with Slit as his backup driver and Max strapped to Nux's car to supply blood. The War Rig is soon attacked by Buzzards, but Furiosa manages to fight them off. Eventually, Furiosa attempts to lure the War Boys into a sandstorm, hoping to lose them. Nux attempts to destroy the Rig, but Max escapes and stops Nux. However, Nux's car is destroyed when Furiosa rams the Rig into it. Max soon regains consciousness, and finds Furiosa trying to fix the Rig. After a brief fight, Max gains the upper hand on Furiosa and attempts to flee with the Rig, only to find that kill switches created by Furiosa has disabled the Rig. Max joins Furiosa and the Wives, while Nux is picked up by Joe's army after being thrown off the Rig by Angharad.
The group arrives at a canyon controlled by a biker gang called the Rock Riders. However, when they realize that the War Boys are pursuing the group, the Rock Riders immediately turn against Furiosa and begin attacking. The bikers detonate the canyon in order to prevent Joe's forces from entering, while Max and Furiosa fight off the bikers. Nux, now aboard Joe's car, boards the War Rig, but Angharad falls off the Rig, and she and her unborn child are killed when she is run over by Joe's car.
Furiosa reveals to Max the reason why she escaped from the Citadel. She plans on heading for the Green Place, which she remembers from her childhood. Capable finds a distraught Nux over failing Joe, and she consoles him. When night falls, the Rig is stuck in mud, and Max and Furiosa lay a trap for the War Boys to stall them. Angharad's unborn child is surgically removed, and Joe finds out that the child was a boy. The Bullet Farmer then attacks the War Rig as Nux frees the Rig from the mud. Furiosa manages to blind the Bullet Farmer by shooting out one of his vehicle's lights with her sniper rifle, and Max heads off into the dark to confront the Bullet Farmer. He later returns with a new supply of ammunition.
After driving through the swamp, the group meets a naked woman named Valkyrie who Max suspects is bait. Furiosa meets the woman and reveals her clan, causing Valkyrie to summon the Vuvalini. While talking with the Vuvalini, Furiosa is distraught when she learns that the Green Place had since turned into an uninhabitable swamp sometime after she had been taken as a child. With the Vuvalini, the group plans on riding across salt flats on motorcycles to find a new home. However, Max has visions of a child he failed to save, then persuades the group to go back to where they came, through the canyon and back to the Citadel, now undefended, and once at the canyon, they can use the Rig to block off the pass and trap Joe and his army.
As Max, Furiosa, and the group venture back to the Citadel, Joe is alerted about this and pursues them across the desert. Slit attacks the Rig until Valkyrie shoots his driver. Valkyrie is knocked off her bike and attempts to take out Joe and his car with her rifle until she is run over by the People Eater. During the battle, the oldest of the Vuvalini, the Keeper of the Seeds, is mortally wounded when she attempts to fight off the Polecats, Toast is kidnapped by one of the Polecats and taken to Joe's car, and Furiosa is severely wounded after being stabbed when she saves Max from falling to his death.
Slit soon rejoins the chase and is eventually killed when his car is crushed between the War Rig and the People Eater's vehicle, then Max hijacks the People Eater's vehicle and uses the People Eater as a human shield when Joe fires at him. Max then escapes the People Eater's vehicle as it explodes from the damage inflicted by the destruction of Slit's car and the flamethrower from one of the War Boys. When Joe positions his car in front of the War Rig to slow it down, Furiosa gives the wheel to Nux, and Furiosa makes her way to Joe's car to kill him.
Max eventually reaches the Rig, and he engages in a fistfight with Joe's son, Rictus Erectus, while Furiosa fights the Prime Imperator. The Prime Imperator is killed when Nux rams into Joe's car, causing him to fall off the car and is crushed by the wheels. With the help of another Vuvalini, Max manages to gain the upper hand on Rictus and defeat him by smashing him with one of his oxygen tanks, rendering him unconscious, and shortly after, Furiosa manages to kill Joe by ripping off his mask and tearing off his face, losing her prosthetic arm in the process, and Max saves Furiosa from falling to her death after killing Joe. Cheedo tells the group that Joe is now dead, and the group begins to make their escape on Joe's car. At the last minute, Rictus eventually regains consciousness and attempts to pursue the group, but Nux quickly steps on the brakes, and Rictus rips out the War Rig's engine. Nux then sacrifices himself by crashing the Rig, killing Rictus and blocking the canyon, trapping the remaining War Boys.
As the group drives back to the Citadel, Max helps Furiosa recover from her injuries by transfusing his blood to her. When they arrive at the Citadel, Max reveals Joe's corpse, and the citizens of the Citadel celebrate Joe's death. The group is cheered upon by the crowd and welcomed by the War Boys, and Max walks off, taking one last look at Furiosa before vanishing within the crowd. As the movie concludes, we then see the quote, "Where must we go... We who wander this Wasteland in search of our better selves?" by the First History Man.
