An orb-like droid named BB-8 has some technology placed within him that contains a map showing the whereabouts of Luke Skywalker, and there are several interested parties, some benevolent and some evil, that desperately want to get a hold of this for their own purposes. In protection of the droid are a scavenger from the desert planet of Jakku named Rey, a failed stormtrooper turned hero nicknamed Finn, intergalactic smugglers Han Solo and Chewbacca, and, to a lesser extent, a resistance pilot named Poe Dameron, who have come to reclaim their beloved ship, the Millennium Falcon. Out to wrest the information from them is a powerful faction known as the First Order, Dark-siders who've vowed to restore the galaxy back to the former glory of the Empire (complete with stormtroopers, TIE fighters, and a secret weapon of mass destruction), out to crush the upstart alliance known as the Resistance.