The short opens with WALL-E running his hand through the rings of Saturn while hanging on the side of EVE's ship, as shown in the original film. One of the rock particles that swirls away begins to increase in velocity as it moves up against the atmosphere of a Saturnian moon, becoming a meteorite that destroys a small lamp spire outside the Axiom.
AUTO sees this and activates SUPPLY-R, a storage robot that dispenses
spare lamps. He then dispatches BURN-E, a repair robot, to replace the
broken lamp. Before he can secure the new lamp, EVE's ship enters the Axiom's
docking bay. Still hanging on the side of the ship, WALL-E waves to
greet him, but as BURN-E is distracted the loose lamp floats into space.
BURN-E retrieves another spare from SUPPLY-R, who is reluctant to let
it go, and begins welding it down around the same time WALL-E is
launched in an escape pod
set to self-destruct in the original film. The pod explodes and BURN-E
turns in surprise, accidentally slicing off the lamp with his blowtorch,
frustrating him. Annoyed of another failure, SUPPLY-R gives BURN-E the
last spare lamp (which is dropped by the latter's feet), which he
finally manages to install successfully. By this point, WALL-E and EVE
fly into the Axiom through the only available entrance near
BURN-E, which closes and locks him out. Later, WALL-E and EVE are nearly
jettisoned through a garbage airlock,
which BURN-E tries to use to reenter the ship but is closed as soon as
he reaches it. BURN-E gives up all hope and begins playing with his
blowtorch when it dawns on him that he can use it to cut a hole into the
ship, and he does so.
BURN-E returns to SUPPLY-R to turn on the newly installed lamp. At this point, the Axiom's
captain and autopilot AUTO get into a fight and the ship is tilted,
throwing BURN-E outside again. The Captain disables AUTO and realigns
the ship, but as BURN-E prepares to go back inside, the ship blasts into
hyperspace and pins BURN-E to the side of the hull. The Axiom
lands on Earth and BURN-E reenters to find the ship deserted. BURN-E
spots SUPPLY-R through the window of an escape pod and waves to him. He
suddenly launches it and instantly crashes to the ground below near
SUPPLY-R. BURN-E flings off the pod's hatch and finally turns on the
lamp, but it is crushed shortly afterwards and destroyed by the falling
hatch. Frustrated, BURN-E collapses in despair.
In a post-credits scene, SUPPLY-R consoles him by patting BURN-E on the head and saying, "There, there," in a dull, monotone voice.
