In 2805, Earth has been polluted with waste and humanity has abandoned the planet, by boarding a giant space cruise ship called theAxiom. They have built hundreds of domestic robots called WALL-E, who made piled cubes of waste in an attempt to restore the planet. Seven hundred years later, one robot spends most days cleaning the city and collecting whatever he finds interesting, before finding a surviving plant hidden in arefrigerator.
A rocket appears and assigns EVE to investigate the city. WALL-E meets and invites EVE into his home. He shows theHello Dolly movie on avideocassette recorder. When WALL-E shows a plant for EVE, she takes it and becomes deactivated. The same rocket reappears on Earth, takes EVE and returns to outer space, with WALL-E following it.
As the rocket returns to the mothership, WALL-E notices that all humans had gained weight and lost some bones, while sitting in hoverchairs, and having robots serve them. The AUTO and Captain McCrea examine EVE's body in the main dock, only to find the plant gone.
When WALL-E inadvertently destroys the security system at the repair ward, he and EVE escape from the hallway. EVE attempts to send WALL-E to the escape pod, but they discover that Gopher placed the plant in the pod, when he stole it from EVE. WALL-E uses afire extinguisher to save himself and the plant, before the pod self destructs.
The robots return to the ship. As McCrea watches each videos EVE recorded on Earth, he realises they must return to Earth. However, AUTO refuses, revealing he stole the plant for Gopher, and its outdated secret directive no-return issued to all AUTOs by BNL inaccurately believing Earth to be to toxic to live and that humans should survive in space forever. A furious McCrea argues how the plant is proof against the directive, but AUTO and Gopher stage a treacherous mutiny: Gopher discards the plant in a waste shaft, WALL-E hides it, before he is electrocuted by AUTO and EVE is shut down, and both are sent down to the shaft, and McCrea is trapped in the room.
EVE wakes up and saves WALL-E from being sent into space. They help all humans and robots take control of the ship. WALL-E is able to prevent AUTO from closing the machine, despite getting crushed afterwards, and McCrea recovers and disables AUTO. After the ship returns to Earth, EVE repairs WALL-E's body. Though WALL-E cannot remember EVE, the spark makes them remember each other. The movie ends with all humans and robots restoring all life on Earth.
