Daniel Ocean is released on parole after a four-year jail sentence for theft and immediately starts planning the robbery a high-security vault shared by three Las Vegas casinos. He tracks down his right-hand man and together they assemble a team of eleven guys including an explosives expert, a pickpocket par excellence, two getaway drivers, a card sharp, a geeky electronics genius, and a Chinese acrobat.
It soon transpires that Danny's real goal is to win back his ex-wife and bankrupt the man she's currently dating (who just happens to own the three casinos at the center of the heist).