Being defrosted after 66 years, Captain America, Steve Rogers, fights aliens in New York. He thought he could find his place in this new world, but the whole world has changed so much that he barely recognizes it anymore. Will he be able to fall back in line? Will he be able to make the world a better place? Let’s find out by revisiting the story of the movie Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014). If you haven’t watched the movie yet, please be aware that there are spoilers ahead.

Captain America, Steve Rogers, becomes friends with Sam Wilson while jogging early in the morning. Sam is a former United States Air Force pararescue airman. Currently, he works in the Department of Veterans Affairs, counseling veterans suffering from PTSD. 

Cap is assigned a mission to rescue hostages from a S.H.I.E.L.D. vessel, the Lemurian Star, a mobile satellite launch platform. On this mission, Cap is accompanied by S.H.I.E.L.D.’s counter-terrorist unit STRIKE. The ship is taken over by pirates led by a French mercenary named Georges Batroc. During the mission, Steve finds out that Natasha had a separate mission to recover encrypted data from the ship.

Steve confronts S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury about it when he gets back to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters, The Triskelion. Fury explains that the mission was compartmentalized to prevent leaks of classified information. Fury then introduces Cap to Project Insight, which involves three next-gen Helicarriers linked to a network of targeting satellites capable of neutralizing threats before they occur. Steve disagrees with the premise and leaves. Suspicious, Fury tries to decrypt the data Natasha collected but fails despite having the necessary clearance. He asks World Security Council Secretary Alexander Pierce to delay Project Insight’s launch.

On his way to meet Agent Maria Hill to investigate the matter, Fury is ambushed by the Winter Soldier, who is tasked with killing him. Fury escapes and goes to Steve’s apartment. He gives Steve the flash drive containing the data before being shot by the Winter Soldier. Captain follows the Winter Soldier but loses him.

At the hospital, Fury seemingly dies in front of Steve, Natasha, and Hill. Agent Hill takes his body away. Steve hides the flash drive in a vending machine in the hospital before being summoned to S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters by Pierce, who questions him about Fury’s visit to his apartment. Steve, remembering Fury’s warning not to trust anyone, withholds information. When a STRIKE unit tries to capture him, he escapes by jumping out of an elevator and destroying a Quinjet. Pierce declares Steve a fugitive and prioritizes his capture. Following Steve’s escape, the World Security Council votes for the immediate reactivation of Project Insight.

Going to retrieve the flash drive from the hospital, Steve finds out that Natasha has already got it. They go to a mall’s computer store to access the drive’s contents, only to trigger a homing program, alerting S.H.I.E.L.D. to their location. They barely escape. The drive’s data points them to a location in New Jersey, leading them to Camp Lehigh, where Steve trained when he joined the army. The facility appears abandoned until they find a secret entrance to an old S.H.I.E.L.D. office. There, they encounter an obsolete supercomputer that houses the consciousness of Arnim Zola, a former HYDRA scientist who used his position in S.H.I.E.L.D. to rebuild HYDRA. Zola reveals that the drive contains an algorithm for Project Insight, which HYDRA plans to use to eliminate threats to their power.

Steve and Natasha narrowly survive a missile strike ordered by Pierce and go to Sam Wilson’s place to lay low. Realizing the extent of HYDRA’s infiltration, Sam volunteers to help. The trio kidnaps Jasper Sitwell, a HYDRA agent, who reveals that the algorithm determines Project Insight’s targets by analyzing digital records. On their way to the Triskelion to sabotage the launch, the Winter Soldier attacks, killing Sitwell. During the fight, Steve realizes the Winter Soldier is his childhood friend, Bucky Barnes, believed dead since World War II.

Captured by the STRIKE team, Steve, Natasha, and Sam are freed by Agent Hill, who takes them to Fury, alive after faking his death. They plan to replace the Helicarriers’ targeting blades to stop Project Insight. Fury, initially planning to salvage S.H.I.E.L.D., is convinced by Steve to take down both S.H.I.E.L.D. and HYDRA. Bucky begins to remember his past, but Pierce has his memory wiped again. He is then tasked to assassinate Captain America.

The team infiltrates the Triskelion during the World Security Council’s visit to observe Project Insight’s launch. Alexander Pierce makes the council members wear lethal devices, saying that it will provide them unrestricted access to the biometrically controlled facility. Steve announces HYDRA’s takeover of S.H.I.E.L.D. via the PA system. Agent Rumlow from the STRIKE initiates the launch before time. Steve and Sam go to replace the targeting blades. Hill directs them to destroy the Helicarriers. Natasha, disguised as a council member, disarms Pierce and starts leaking HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D. secrets. As disabling the encryption requires two alpha-level members to execute, Fury comes and forces Pierce to unlock S.H.I.E.L.D. ‘s database. But Pierce activates lethal devices on the council members. After being forced to shoot Pierce, Fury and Natasha escape in a chopper.

Steve and Sam replace two targeting blades but face the Winter Soldier at the third. Despite being shot, Steve completes the mission. The Helicarriers crash into each other and the Triskelion. Sam narrowly escapes with Fury and Natasha. Steve tries to convince Bucky to remember his past, but Bucky, still programmed to fight, knocks him out. They both fall into the river below. However, Bucky pulls Steve from the river and disappears.

In the aftermath, Agent Hill joins Stark Industries, HYDRA associates get arrested, and Natasha testifies before the Senate. Fury heads to Europe to hunt down remaining HYDRA facilities. Steve, recovering, decides to find Bucky, with Sam volunteering to join him.

In a mid-credits scene, Baron Strucker conducts experiments with Loki’s scepter, predicting that two enhanced individuals from his experiments will soon encounter the Avengers. In a post-credits scene, Bucky visits the Smithsonian Institution, piecing together his past.