WALL-E, promoted with an interpunct as WALL·E, is a 2008 computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and directed by Andrew Stanton. The story follows a robot named WALL-E, who is designed to clean up a waste-covered Earth far in the future. He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE, and follows her into outer space on an adventure that changes the destiny of both his kind and humanity.

Throughout the 21st century, Earth was governed by the Buy n Large (BnL) megacorporation, causing mass consumerism and covering the planet in trash by 2105. In an

attempt to resolve the situation, BnL evacuated Earth’s population on fully automated luxury starliners for five years while an army of trash compactor robots called “WALL-E” were left behind to clean up the planet. However, the plan failed and the WALL-E units were shut off, and humanity has remained in space for 700 years. However, somehow one WALL-E remained active, and survived the harsh environment and the passage of time by salvaging spare parts from the others of his type. By doing this, the unit developed sentience, as shown by his quirky habits of collecting knickknacks from the mountains of trash, domesticating a lone cockroach, and singing to the show tunes of "Hello Dolly!".

One day, WALL-E discovers a seedling plant growing in the soil among the trash and returns it to his home. Later, a spaceship lands and deploys EVE, an advanced probe robot sent to Earth with the directive of searching for signs of plant life. WALL-E immediately falls in love with the initially aloof and hostile EVE, who gradually softens and takes a liking to WALL-E. During a dust storm, WALL-E takes EVE to his home and shows her the plant in the boot, which causes her automated systems to store the plant inside her body, activate a homing beacon for her ship, and shut her down. After WALL-E goes to great lengths to take care of her, even going on a date with the inactive robot in the hopes that she will reactivate, EVE’s ship returns to collect her, prompting WALL-E to desperately cling to the hull of the ship as it returns to the Axiom, the flagship of the BnL starliner fleet.

Upon docking, WALL-E follows EVE as she is taken to the bridge of the ship. As he progresses through the Axiom, it becomes apparent that after centuries of living in microgravity and relying on the ship’s automated systems, the human passengers have suffered severe bone loss and become morbidly obese. The captain himself does little, leaving control of the ship to its robotic autopilot, Auto. When EVE is brought to the bridge, the captain learns that by placing her plant sample inside the ship’s holo-detector as a sign of Earth being habitable again, the Axiom will enter hyperspace and return to Earth to allow its passengers to repopulate the planet. However, when EVE is opened, the plant is missing. She is considered defective and is taken to the robot repair ward, along with WALL-E, to be inspected and to have her memory wiped.

At the repair ward, WALL-E interprets EVE’s inspection as torture and breaks free attempting to save her, but his clumsiness only causes chaos and he accidentally releases a horde of malfunctioning robots to roam the ship, resulting in the ship’s security designating him and EVE as “rogue robots.” Angry about WALL-E’s disruptive influence, EVE takes him to the escape pod bay to send him back to Earth. There they witness Auto’s robot assistant deposit the missing plant into an escape pod, which is set to self-destruct and launched with WALL-E inside. WALL-E escapes with the plant unharmed, and EVE gratefully gives him a “kiss” in the form of an electric spark. The two robots celebrate on a spacewalk around the Axiom before returning the plant to the captain.

The captain reviews EVE’s visual records of the devastated Earth. Some of the footage contains her time spent with WALL-E, as well as the “Hello Dolly!” video. From it, EVE begins to understand what love is. Further footage of WALL-E’s attempts to protect her when she was inactive shows his feelings for her, enough to realize she loves him back. When the captain vows to return to Earth to restore the planet, Auto reveals that he was given a final directive to keep humanity in space when life on Earth was deemed unsustainable. When the captain resists, Auto stages a mutiny by electrocuting WALL-E with his taser, sending him down a garbage chute with EVE and the plant, and locking the captain in his quarters. Realizing that the only parts available to repair WALL-E are on Earth, EVE takes him and the plant to the holo-detector to activate the ship’s hyperjump back to Earth. The captain breaks free from his quarters and opens the holo-detector while trying to wrestle control of the Axiom from Auto, who closes it on WALL-E and crushes him as he tries to hold it open. The captain deactivates Auto and EVE places the plant in the holo-detector, releasing WALL-E and sending the ship back to Earth.

EVE brings WALL-E’s body back to his home and successfully repairs and reactivates him. Unfortunately, WALL-E’s memory and personality appear to have been erased as he reverts to his original trash-compacting duties. Heartbroken, EVE gives him a farewell electric spark “kiss” that reboots his memory and restores him to his usual self, happily reuniting the two robots. WALL-E and EVE rejoin the humans and robots, taking care to plant the seedling that brought them back home. The camera zooms out to show more seedlings sprouting from the ground, and the epilogue shows the humans and robots working together to rebuild civilization and restore the Earth’s environment.