Uncharted: Treasure hunter Nathan "Nate" Drake (Nolan North), accompanied by reporter Elena Fisher (Emily Rose), recovers the coffin of his self-proclaimed ancestor Sir Francis Drake, having located it from coordinates inscribed on a family heirloom: a ring Nate wears around his neck. The coffin contains Sir Francis Drake's diary, which gives the location of El Dorado. Pirates attack and destroy Nate's boat, but Nate's friend and mentor Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Richard McGonagle) rescues the two in his seaplane. Fearing Elena's reporting will attract potential rivals, Nate and Sully abandon her at a dock.

Following the diary to the indicated spot, Nate and Sully discover an alcove that once held a large statue, and realize that El Dorado is not a city but rather a golden idol. They find a Nazi U-boat, which contains a page from Drake's diary showing the statue was taken to an island. However, mercenaries led by criminal Gabriel Roman (Simon Templeman) and his lieutenant Atoq Navarro (Robin Atkin Downes) intercept Nate and Sully. Sully is seemingly killed by a shot to the chest, but Nate manages to escape, encounters Elena, and flies with her to the island.

On the way, anti-aircraft fire forces Elena and Nate to bail out and they are separated. After retrieving supplies from the wrecked seaplane, Nate heads toward an old fort to find Elena. Briefly captured by pirates led by old associate Eddy Raja (James Sie), Elena breaks Nate free and they flee to the island's old customs house. After finding records showing the statue was moved further inland, they find that Sully is alive and accompanying Roman and Raja. Nate and Elena find and rescue Sully who, having survived due to Drake's diary blocking the bullet, explains he was buying time for Nate by giving Roman misinformation.

Uncharted 2: Two years after the events of the first game, treasure hunter Nathan Drake (Nolan North) is approached by former associate Harry Flynn (Steve Valentine) and Flynn's girlfriend Chloe Frazer (Claudia Black) to help steal a Mongolian oil lamp connected to Marco Polo's doomed 1292 voyage from China. The group plans to cheat Flynn's client and take Polo's treasure for themselves. Unbeknownst to Flynn, Chloe and Nate had worked together before, and Chloe plans on blackmailing Flynn and escaping with Nate and whatever treasure they find.

Nate and Flynn break into a museum in Istanbul and find the lamp, which contains a map and flammable resin that reveals Polo's fleet was shipwrecked in Borneo, and was carrying the Cintamani Stone from the fabled city of Shambhala. Flynn double-crosses Nate, leaving him to be arrested.

Three months later, Chloe helps free Nate with his longtime friend Victor Sullivan (Richard McGonagle). She reveals that Flynn is working for Zoran Lazarević (Graham McTavish), a Serbian war criminal seeking the stone. In Borneo, Nate and Sully infiltrate Lazarević's camp, with Chloe as a mole. Nate discovers that the stone never left Shambhala, and locates a temple containing the bodies of Polo's crew, as well as a phurba and map detailing that its carrier will gain passage to Shambhala through a temple in Nepal. Nate and Sully escape after being cornered by Flynn and his men.

Uncharted 3: The story begins with Nathan "Nate" Drake (Nolan North) and Victor "Sully" Sullivan (Richard McGonagle) entering a pub in London to meet with a man named Talbot (Robin Atkin Downes), who is interested in purchasing Nate's ring. During the meeting, Nate and Sully accuse Talbot of offering them counterfeit banknotes, and a fight ensues. After fighting their way past Talbot's thugs, Nate and Sully emerge in an alleyway, where they are surrounded and subdued by Charlie Cutter (Graham McTavish), Talbot's cohort. They are then approached by Talbot's client, Katherine Marlowe (Rosalind Ayres), who steals Drake's ring. Nate attempts to go after her, but Cutter guns him and Sully down, seemingly killing them.

The story flashes back to 20 years earlier, where a teenage Nathan Drake (Billy Unger) explores a museum in Cartagena, Colombia, in search of Sir Francis Drake's ring, but is thrown out after guards suspect him of being a thief. Intrigued by the actions of Victor Sullivan, who he does not know at this point, Nate follows Sully to a keymaker and pickpockets him, before returning to the museum. He steals the ring, but before he can leave he is caught by Marlowe, her henchmen, and Sully, who was working for her. Nate flees with the ring, with Marlowe's agents in pursuit, but Sully rescues Nate from the agents and decides to act as a mentor to him.