The film's protagonist, Wikus van der Merwe (played by Sharlto Copley), a bureaucrat tasked with relocating the aliens to a new camp, District 10, undergoes a transformation after being exposed to an alien liquid that slowly turns his body into that of an alien. As Wikus's transformation progresses, he is shunned by his former colleagues and forced to navigate the harsh realities faced by the aliens in District 9.