A giant alien robot (Vin Diesel) crash-lands near the small town of Rockwell, Maine, in 1957. Exploring the area, a local 9-year-old boy, Hogarth Hughes (Roman Griffin Davis), discovers the robot, and soon forms an unlikely friendship with him. When a paranoid government agent, Kent Mansley (Bobby Cannavale), becomes determined to destroy the robot, Hogarth and beatnik Dean McCoppin (Tom Cruise) must do what they can to save the misunderstood machine.