The White House, the Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument... But Larry Daley (Ben Stiller), the night guard of the museum in New York who rushed to the capital of the United States, Washington D.C., had no interest in wandering around these historical attractions. After getting off the plane and jumping into a taxi, he headed straight for one of the largest museums in the world - the Smithsonian Museum.
As soon as he entered the museum, Larry's furtive glances and sleuthing behavior caught the attention of the Smithsonian security guard (Jonah Hill). It turned out that Larry wasn't there to admire the exhibition or to gain knowledge during his spare time. What made him restless was actually the exhibits from the original American Museum of Natural History with whom he shared a good relationship. These historical lives that come back to life only at midnight are almost all capricious and mischievous, and they were mistakenly sent to this new luxurious place. Without Larry acting as an intermediary, they would surely cause quite a ruckus.
Stabilizing the morale of the exhibits and maintaining order when it goes awry seemed like a piece of cake! But little did Larry know that more than just museum-dwelling species would "come alive" this time. The evil Pharaoh Kahmunrah (Hank Azaria) also returned...