Producer Michael G. Wilson developed the film's plot while Casino Royale was being shot. Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Paul Haggis, and Joshua Zetumer contributed to the script. The title was chosen from a 1960 short story in Ian Fleming's For Your Eyes Only, though the film does not contain any elements of the original story. Location filming took place in Mexico, Panama, Chile, Italy, Austria, and Wales while interior sets were built and filmed at Pinewood Studios. Forster aimed to make a modern film that also featured classic cinema motifs: a vintage Douglas DC-3 was used for a flight sequence, and Dennis Gassner's set designs are reminiscent of Ken Adam's work on several early Bond films. Taking a course away from the usual Bond villains, Forster rejected any grotesque appearance for the character Dominic Greene to emphasize the hidden and secret nature of the film's contemporary villains.
The film premiered at the Odeon Leicester Square on 29 October 2008, gathering mixed reviews which mainly praised Craig's gritty performance and the film's action sequences while feeling that Quantum of Solace was not as impressive as the predecessor Casino Royale. It is also the second highest grossing James Bond film, without adjusting for inflation, making $586,090,727 worldwide, while becoming one of the highest grossing Bond films in the United States.
James Bond (Daniel Craig) is driving from Lake Como to Siena, Italy, with the captured Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) in the boot. After evading pursuers, Bond and M (Judi Dench) interrogate White regarding his organisation, Quantum. M's bodyguard, Mitchell, a double agent, attacks M, enabling White to escape; Bond chases Mitchell across Siena's rooftops and kills him.
Bond and M return to London and search Mitchell's flat, discovering through tagged banknotes that he had a contact in Haiti. Bond tracks the contact, Edmund Slate, and learns that Slate has been sent to kill Camille Montes (Olga Kurylenko) at the behest of her lover, environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). While observing her subsequent meeting with Greene, Bond learns that Greene is helping the Bolivian General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio) — who murdered Camille's family — overthrow his government in exchange for a seemingly barren piece of desert.
After rescuing Camille from Medrano, Bond follows Greene to a performance of Tosca in Bregenz, Austria. En route, the CIA head of the South American section, Gregg Beam (David Harbour), strikes a non-interference deal with Greene to maintain access to assumed stocks of Bolivian oil, overruling the objections of Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright). Bond infiltrates Quantum's meeting at the opera, and a gunfight ensues in the adjoining restaurant. A Special Branch bodyguard of Quantum member Guy Haines, an advisor to the British Prime Minister, is killed; and M, assuming Bond is the killer, has his passports and credit cards revoked.
Bond convinces his old ally René Mathis (Giancarlo Giannini) to accompany him to Bolivia. At the La Paz airport, they are greeted by Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton), an MI6 officer from the British Consulate, who demands that Bond return to the UK on the next available flight; nonetheless, Bond soon seduces her before they attend a party Greene holds that night.
At the party, Bond again rescues Camille from Greene. Leaving, Bond and Camille are pulled over by Bolivian police working for Medrano. They had earlier attacked Mathis and put him in the trunk of Bond's car to frame him; and, in the ensuing struggle, Mathis is killed. The following day, Bond and Camille survey Quantum's intended land acquisition by air but their plane is shot down after a brief air battle; but they skydive out of the burning plane into a sinkhole. In the cave, Bond and Camille discover Quantum are not after oil but are damming Bolivia's supply of fresh water, to create a monopoly. Back in La Paz, Bond meets M and learns that Quantum murdered Fields by drowning her in crude oil, (an allusion to an iconic scene from Goldfinger). M orders Bond arrested for disobeying orders; after a brief scuffle with guards in the elevator, he escapes.
Bond meets with Leiter in a bar, who discloses Greene and Medrano will meet at an eco hotel in the Atacama Desert to finalize the coup. Warned by Leiter, he evades American special forces attempting to kill him. At the hotel, Greene and Medrano negotiate their terms. Greene then finally reveals his true plans: By gaining control of the majority of Bolivia's water supply, Greene forces Medrano to accept a new contract that makes Greene Planet Bolivia's sole water utility company at significantly higher rates. Bond infiltrates the hotel, kills the Chief of Police for betraying Mathis, and confronts Greene. The hotel is destroyed during the ensuing struggle; Camille kills Medrano, and Bond captures Greene. After interrogating him about Quantum, Bond leaves Greene stranded in the middle of the desert with only a can of motor oil. Bond and Camille kiss before they part.
Bond travels to Kazan, Russia, where he finds Vesper Lynd's former lover, Yusef Kabira (Simon Kassianides), with a new target, a Canadian agent named Corrine (Stana Katic). Yusef is a member of Quantum who seduces women with valuable connections, such as Vesper. In an act of restraint, Bond decides not to kill Yusef and allows MI6 to arrest him. Outside, M tells Bond that Greene was found in the middle of the desert dead, with two bullets in the back of his skull and motor oil in his stomach; Bond denies knowing anything. M also reveals that Leiter has been promoted and has taken Beam's place. She reinstates Bond as an agent; he tells M that he never left. As he leaves, he quietly drops Vesper's necklace in the snow.