Sometime after peace returns to Earth after the defeat of Majin Buu, Goku is forced by Chi-Chi to work as a farmer. Goten and his friend Trunks search for a gift for his sister-in-law Videl, who is married to his older brother, Gohan. Unable to afford jewelry or makeup, the two decide to visit a hot springs in the woods to bottle up some mineral water instead. While there, they are attacked by a giant snake, which they manage to scare away. Sometime later, Mr. Satan visits Goku and gives the 100 million Zeni he received for his purported role in saving Earth from Buu. Goku gives the money to Chi-Chi, so she would let him train. Elsewhere in deep space, Beerus the Destroyer awakened from dreaming of a worthy opponent as he and his attendant, Whis set out to discover who this figure is.

As Goku goes to King Kai's planet to train, Vegeta, Bulma, and Trunks take a family trip to a resort. Bulma and Trunks are enjoying the family time together, while Vegeta is bothered by the fact that Goku gets to train. Fed up with what he considers a waste of time, Vegeta flies away and heads back to Capsule Corporation to train. Somewhere in space, Beerus and Whis scour an alien planet in search of dinosaur meat. They are confronted by the planet's strongest dweller, whom Beerus overpowered before effortless destroying the planet. At that time, Beerus has another vision of his destined opponent – the Super Saiyan God.

Fearing what might happen knowing that Beerus is awake, the Old Supreme Kai and Kaibito urge King Kai to ensure that Goku never finds out about the Destroyer. But Goku overhears the conversation and becomes curious. Back in his temple, Beerus and Whis continue their search for the Super Saiyan God. They soon learn of Goku and his feats. Beerus and Whis decide to pay him and King Kai a visit. Meanwhile, back on Earth, Goku's friends and family members begin gathering on the cruise ship for Bulma's birthday party except for Vegeta who is still training to surpass Goku as the strongest Saiyan.

With all guests now gathered except for Goku and Vegeta, Bulma's birthday party gets underway. Trunks shows Goten where his mother hid the bingo tournament grand prize – the Dragon Balls. Not far off from the ship, the Pilaf Gang are now poor and hungry. They are trying to get by until they find the Dragon Balls and make their wishes come true. When his Dragon Radar picks up a signal coming from Bulma's ship, Pilaf and his henchmen hastily board the ship with Trunks and Goten's help. Meanwhile, on his planet, King Kai explains Beerus to Goku as a counterpart to the Supreme Kais who helps maintain universal balance. Just as he finishes, Beerus and Whis arrive.

Beerus and Whis arrive on King Kai's planet and detect Goku's presence, the former initially disappointed that Goku knows nothing about the "Super Saiyan God" yet agrees to test his strength in a sparring match. Goku attempts to fight him in all of the Super Saiyan transformations, but Beerus effortlessly defeats him in two blows. Beerus and Whis head for Earth shortly afterwards, while King Kai uses his telepathy to warn Vegeta ahead of their arrival and ensure Beerus does not get upset.

Beerus and Whis arrive on Earth as Bulma's birthday party is underway. Paralyzed by Beerus' presence, Vegeta recognizes him as the being who once visited Planet Vegeta and forced his father, King Vegeta on his knees. Bulma pops up and assumes Beerus and Whis to be Vegeta's friends as she invites them to join the party, the two gladly accepting her offer as they become enamored with Earth cuisine. Though Vegeta tries his best to ensure that Beerus remains calm as he and Whis mingle with the guest, the Destroyer becomes furious when Majin Buu refuses to share the remaining pudding and attacks him for his insolence.

Beerus effortlessly knocks Majin Buu away, telling Vegeta to step aside when was being persuaded to calm down and enjoy himself. Trunks and Goten fuse into Gotenks, only to be outmatched and then punished by Beerus after insulting his pudding obsession. Beerus then defeats Piccolo, Tien Shinhan, and Android 18 before he and an upset Buu clash again. While observing the battle, Dende realizes what Beerus actually is and immediately informs Piccolo. Before Piccolo is able to warn him, Gohan powers up and charges towards Beerus before the Destroyer uses Buu as a weapon to knock Gohan down before tossing Buu aside. Vegeta attempts to stop it, but is forced to the ground by Beerus who expresses his disappointment of him being as weak as his father was. Just as Beerus is about to finish Vegeta, Bulma walks up and slaps him for ruining her party. Beerus retaliates with a backhand, with Vegeta finally losing his temper from seeing Bulma hurt and powers up immensely.

Having powered up, Vegeta charges towards Beerus but is knocked out when the Destroyer is revealed to have been using only a fraction of his power. While the Pilaf Gang disembark Bulma's ship on a stolen life raft, Beerus decides to give the Earthlings another chance at saving their planet and picks out Oolong out his similar appearance to Buu for a game of rock–paper–scissors to decide the fate of the planet. After a couple ties, Beerus eventually wins and proceeds to power up his attack. Just as Beerus is about to fire, Goku chimes in and requests Beerus to give them a reprieve as he thought of a way they can get a Super Saiyan God. He will summon and ask Shenron about it.

Goku gathers the Dragon Balls together and summons Shenron, who is startled upon learning of Beerus' presence. Shenron quickly explains that the Super Saiyan God is a legendary transformation that results from a ritual where six kind hearted Saiyans infuse their power into another. The Saiyans attempt to transform Goku, but they fail as they are one Saiyan short. An impatient Beerus was about to destroy the planet when Videl offers to join the ritual while revealing to be pregnant with Gohan's unborn child. The Saiyans and Videl attempt the transformation again and manage to transform Goku into the Super Saiyan God.

Super Saiyan God Goku confronts Beerus, amazed by the immense power his body has gained with the transformation as he gradually becomes used to his new form. Seeing as how Goku might turn out to be a worthy adversary after all, Beerus decides it is time for them to unleash their true power and have a real battle of Gods.

Having somewhat got a grip on the Super Saiyan God form, Goku initially manages to keep up with Beerus before realizing the Destroyer is holding himself back as means to motivate Goku to catch up with him. To that end, Beerus drags Goku to space, where he swiftly knocks him out. Goku comes crashing down back to Earth and ends up in an ocean. Amazed by such power, Goku gets excited and powers up, and heals himself in the process. Willing to have another go, Goku flies out of the ocean and dashes towards Beerus.

Goku and Beerus continue to fight in space, their clashing blows revealed to be producing shockwaves then are causing the universe to be undone, Old Supreme Kai assuming that two more such blows could destroy everything. However, Goku manages to land the third clash with Beerus by balancing Beerus' attack with his own to prevent any more shock waves to be produced. Beerus then uses his atomic bomb attack on Goku, who counters with a Kamehameha.

The Supreme Kais are surprised that the universe is still intact following the battle, Old Kai assuming it to be Beerus's doing and fears the worst has yet to come. On Earth, Vegeta, Whis, and the others are still observing the fight with Whis impressed by the power a Super Saiyan God has. In space, Goku struggles to keep up with Beerus' attack, which ultimately ends up in a massive explosion that threatens the universe before Beerus used his full power to negate it with Mr. Satan taking the credit when called by his public relations group. Goku and Beerus continue their fight after the latter tells the mortal he is at his limit, Goku transforming back into a Super Saiyan after losing his divinity. With Goku not realizing he lost his Super Saiyan God form until after, he managed to land a hit on Beerus who deduces his opponent can still fight on equal ground they resume their battle.

Now with only a Super Saiyan form at his disposal, Goku powers up and attacks but to no avail as Beerus knocks him out effortlessly. With Goku knocked out, Beerus prepares to destroy Earth. In a final effort to stop Beerus, Goku once again powers up and charges his Kamehameha attack. Goku manages to prevent Beerus' attack, but he completely depletes what was left of his energy in the process. He comes crashing down to Earth onto Bulma's ship, where Vegeta manages to catch him. Beerus lands on the planet shortly after to finish what he started, but he suddenly falls asleep. Whis explains that Goku must have tired Beerus out and that by the time he wakes up he will have forgotten about their trip to Earth. Beerus who was faking his sudden sleep spell and Whis leave for Beerus' planet shortly after. With Earth safe again, Goku decides to relax and enjoy the party.