Brooklyn, Noah Diaz, an ex-military electronics expert, struggles to find a job to support his ill brother Kris and is convinced by his friend Reek to steal a Porsche to sell, only to discover that it is the Autobot Mirage in disguise. Concurrently, museum intern Elena Wallace studies an ancient statue of a falcon bearing the Maximal symbol and accidentally breaks it open to reveal the key hidden inside. The key releases an energy pulse detected by Autobot leader Optimus Prime, who summons the other Autobots, including Arcee and Bumblebee. Mirage is contacted in the middle of Noah's attempted theft, and he is roped into the Autobots' mission to recover the key so they can use it to return to their homeworld, Cybertron.