A long time ago the galaxy was ruled by the Eridians, the most powerful and technological advanced alien race. They disappeared centuries ago but left behind a few scraps of their technology that became the base for human advancement. However their greatest secrets were put inside a hidden Vault on planet Pandora.
Peace was soon replaced by corporations, criminals, and treasure seekers that started to fight each other to get to the Vault first, but nobody found it. Eventually a prophecy announced that a “Daughter of Eridia” would open the Vault and bring back peace to the planet. In a space jail, prisoner Tiny Tina hears an explosion before the alarm goes off.
There’s screaming outside her cell and suddenly a guard opens the door, only for him to take off his helmet and reveal he’s ex-soldier Roland. He’s been sent by Tina’s dad Atlas to save her, so they run out of the cell at the same time guards arrive. Roland gets in a fierce battle with the guards, shooting them with his gun or even pushing when possible.
Tina tries to run away alone, so Roland grabs her ankle to make her fall. After Roland crashes a guard’s head against the wall, he keeps on dragging Tina away, ignoring her saying she wants to go back to her cell. Suddenly a glass cell breaks and Krieg jumps out to push them down.
Krieg is a psycho, a type of bandit who went insane over the obsession with the Vault. He uses his great strength to start beating up the incoming guards while Commander Knoxx of the Crimson Lance army shows up. She points her gun at him, only for Krieg to knock her down by throwing a guard at her.
Then Krieg picks up Tina, revealing they are friends. Roland says goodbye to his former commander and agrees to work together with Krieg to escape. A few months later on planet Promethea, bounty hunter Lilith has caught her latest victim and goes to a bar for a drink.
Suddenly she’s surrounded by a bunch of thugs, who don’t leave even when she punches one. The men take out their guns while they explain a rich employer sent them to hire her, so Lilith shoots most of them and knocks down the talking one. People run away in panic while a man at back claps: he’s Atlas, the rich employer that hired the thugs.
Lilith shoots him too, however this is a random body using a hologram mask of Atlas’ face. The last thug puts the mask on and Atlas asks Lilith to go to Pandora to find his daughter Tina. At first Lilith refuses, but she changes her mind when he offers her a huge amount of money as payment.
Atlas kills her bounty so she can start working for him right now and gives her a beacon that she must activate when she finds Tina. Soon Lilith arrives at Pandora and immediately has to shoot a monster in the area. She hates the planet, knowing how bad it can get because she grew up here and her mother died under its dangers.
The people who took Tina landed on a shuttle that has already been vandalized by vault hunters and Lilith worries she may’ve not survived the crash, but the local kids tell her where they saw Tina last. As Lilith searches the area, she keeps encountering psychos that try to attack her, but she simply shoots them down. Then Lilith takes the bus and the driver doesn’t believe her when she says she isn’t a Vault hunter, so he drops her in the middle of nowhere.
Lilith searches the area while someone spies on her from afar. She finds a wanted poster for Roland, but no signs of Tina. In the evening she makes camp and hears a noise, so she shoots at the presence in the shadows.
It turns out to be a robot called Claptrap, who Lilith finds very annoying. She keeps shooting at him until Claptrap reveals he has the ability to track people down. Lilith gives him Tina’s picture and he quickly finds her, although it’ll take 132 days to reach her.
The next morning Lilith notices that the Crimson Lance, who are Atlas’ private army, are on the planet too. They appear to be negotiating with a psycho kidnapping kids in a cage. After the Lance leaves, Lilith shoots the cage open and the psycho dead from afar.
The kids run away and Lilith steals the vehicle, keeping Claptrap locked in the cage. Thanks to the ride, Lilith travels faster and makes it to a junkyard. She opens a container and finds a child’s room with tons of plushies.
Tina comes out of hiding and claims Roland abandoned her some days ago, so Lilith informs her she’s taking her home. When she tries activating the beacon, she accidentally drops it and crouches it to grab it, only to find tons of dynamite under the bed. Tina asks her to pass her a bunny but when Lilith grabs it, the toy explodes.
Lilith jumps out of the container just in time and sees Tina on top of some trucks. The girl starts dropping explosive plushies, so Lilith has to run to hide under her vehicle. The beacon breaks in the process, so Lilith gives it to Claptrap to fix it.
Then Lilith points her gun at Tina, causing her to call out for Krieg. He comes out of an old van and goes after Lilith, who opens fire on him to no avail. She dodges his attacks as they run around, but they end up in a hand-to-hand fight anyway.
Lilith runs up a platform to make Kriege chase her and dodges at the last second, causing the platform to send him flying. When Lilith recovers, she finds Tina pointing a very big weapon at her. Lilith tries to explain she was sent by Tina’s father, but now Tina claims she has no daddy.
They’re interrupted by Knoxx appearing on a hoverbike and her whole army following her. Tina tosses a bunny at Knoxx, which she throws away before flying off. The explosion destabilizes the pile of trucks, so Lilith and Tina jump to another pile only to slide down to the ground.
Lilith pushes Tina away before they can get crushed by the debris and Knoxx tries to get them, however she has to fly off again when Roland arrives in a truck and almost hits her hoverbike. Tina lied, he was only gone for ten minutes to get the truck. Krieg, Tina, and Lilith jump into the vehicle and Roland drives away while Claptrap follows them.
The Lances are soon following them too, so Krieg brings Claptrap in and Roland speeds up. When the Lances open fire, Roland passes the wheel to Lilith and uses the truck’s weapons to fire back, bringing down a bunch of cars and hoverbikes. Soon Lilith passes the wheel to Claptrap and also comes out to join the fire.
Claptrap makes the vehicle hit the supports of a bridge and makes it fall, but the enemies drive right through it anyway. Unfortunately the Lances catch up and a missile hits the truck, so Lilith and Roland must go inside again. Vehicles surround the truck on every side, however Roland pushes one to drive off, causing a chain of cars crashing against each other.
Then he crosses a barrier that takes them to “Piss Wash Gully”, which is full of smoke and monster urine. The Lances don’t follow them there, but they’re attacked by a giant monster instead. Roland drives as fast as possible to dodge the beast’s limbs, only for the truck to end up stuck on the edge of a cliff.
The monster appears in front of them and attacks again, luckily Roland manages to get the truck going in reverse. At that moment the Lances appear and surround them again as Knoxx asks for Tina. With a plan in mind, Roland speeds up and opens fire on the beast, making a hole in its head that allows them to jump through it to escape.
Moments later they have to stop the truck to change a flat tire. While waiting, Tina explains to Lilith that Roland didn’t kidnap her, he actually saved her. Atlas thinks Tina is the Daughter of Eridia and wants to use the Vault's contents for no good, so the trio doesn’t want to open it for him.
Roland points his gun at Lilith because she works for Atlas, but Lilith points out the Lances want her too so they’re on the same side. They allow her to stay and reveal they have one of the keys for the Vault too, so now they only need to find certain scientist that will get them the other one. The group travels to a city and wears masks to go unnoticed since there are wanted posters everywhere.
They enter a bar belonging to Mad Moxxi, who used to know Lilith’s mother. Roland is recognized by soldier Larry, so he distracts the guy while Lilith gets the location and password of the scientist’s place from Moxxi. At first Larry is friendly, but soon he reveals he also wants Roland’s bounty.
Before he can attack, Moxxi tases him unconscious. At that moment the Lances arrive, so Moxxi makes the group leave through the back door. When they reach the elevator, Lilith says the password but it doesn’t work, however it does activate with Tina’s voice.
They go up into a big lab and find Doctor Patricia, who immediately recognizes Lilith. It’s clear that Lilith doesn’t like her and she runs to another room to avoid the awkwardness. Patricia follows her and tries to communicate, but Lilith reminds her that Patricia abandoned her when she was a kid to go Vault-hunting.
It turns out Patricia took Lilith after her mother’s death and she was supposed to take care of her. Patricia tries to explain that she had to finish Lilith’s mother’s work, but Lilith gets angrier and runs to the roof. Soon Tina joins her and explains she grew up in a lab.
Atlas cloned her using a bit of Eridian blood he found inside the key, hoping Tina could open the Vault and planning to make superweapons with the alien technology. Tina cries as she points out that after opening the Vault, she’ll be sent to the lab again. On the city streets, Claptrap is wandering around.
Larry sees him and tells Knoxx, who tries going after him but Claptrap is already gone. Back in the lab, Patricia tells the others that the other key is in a mine inside the dangerous Caustic Caverns. At that moment Claptrap arrives and tells them he’s been seen.
Knoxx is putting the city under lockdown, so the group escapes by hiding inside a trash container that is quickly taken out. In the morning they make it to the mines and find a hatch on the ground. After pushing Claptrap in to make sure it’s safe, they go down too.
There’s a river of chemical waste from the mining equipment that can destroy everything except for the natural crystals in the cavern. They send Claptrap through a very small tunnel to open the door ahead and then they try crossing a very flimsy platform that almost makes Tina fall. Thankfully they make it to the other side and Tina is amazed to find a flower, which sadly gets stepped on by Claptrap.
The team crosses the door and goes town a tunnel where they find the symbol of the Bloodshots, a gang of psychos that even other psychos are scared of. They find the gang in another room and conclude there are too many to shoot them down. Claptrap is sent in as a distraction and the Bloodshots open fire on him, allowing the team to cross the room unnoticed.
They go upstairs and once the Bloodshots stop shooting to celebrate their violence, Claptrap manages to escape. After taking another corridor, the group finds a cave with hundreds of crates. They think searching the key will take forever, however Lilith follows her instincts and goes straight to a particular box, immediately finding the second key inside.
As they get ready to leave, Claptrap starts pooping out all the bullets he was shot with and the noise gives away their location. A Bloodshot bursts in and the team fights him together to bring him down, but soon all the other psychos arrive as well. Roland and Lilith open fire while Krieg fights them hand-to-hand.
Tina almost gets caught but Krieg quickly saves her and she get to stab an enemy too. Thanks to their teamwork they manage to kill tons of psychos, however they just keep coming and their numbers are too big. Lilith drops a bunch of boxes to block the way and the group takes the stairs as more psychos try to follow them.
Roland stands on the stairs as he continues to fire and Lilith finds a flamethrower which she uses to burn down a bunch of enemies. Tina throws an explosive on the stairs, destroying the steps so they can’t be followed while they escape. The team takes a dark tunnel and are ambushed by psychos with glowing masks.
They almost capture Tina and Lilith, but a few shots quickly kill them all. The tunnel takes them to another room with even more psychos, so another fight ensues. They quickly bring down a bunch of enemies, and this time Tina gets to see more action.
At that moment Patricia finally finds the corridor to the elevator, so they group runs away after blocking the path behind them. Unfortunately the elevator is broken, thus Patricia must work with Claptrap to fix it. The psychos are now in the corridor too and Roland and Krieg go out to fight them yet again.
There are more coming from another hallway so Lilith rushes to close the gate and shoot a few of them down, losing her gun in the process. The psychos grab her and try to stab her, but luckily Tina arrives and retrieves the gun to free Lilith. Since the psychos keep on pounding, the gate won’t stand for too long.
In the corridor Roland makes Krieg stand back to shoot the pipes so the chemical waste can pour all over their enemies. The team rushes to get in the elevator, only to discover there’s another wire problem Patricia didn’t see. Roland comes out to fix it and makes them leave without him.
Tina drops him a rabbit as the elevator goes up, and Roland throws it at the psychos as they jump on him The elevator bursts through the ground and the team thinks they’re about to crash, however they’re all suddenly teleported to the ground. Lilith throws up while Tina assumes this is some power of hers she didn’t know about. That night, the group makes camp and Patricia combines the keys, which reveals a map with the location of the Vault.
It also has the symbol of the Firehawk, the Eridian goddess and protector of the planet. Patricia explains to Lilith that opening the Vault has a chance of killing Tina. Down in the mine, all the psychos are dead thanks to the bunny bomb and Roland has saved himself by hiding under them.
Moments later Claptrap gives Lilith back the fixed beacon. Lilith immediately destroys it, but this only causes a drone to show up with Atlas’ hologram. He explains the Lances are on their way to their location and if Lilith doesn’t hand Tina over, then Atlas will kill the whole team.
He promises to pay her as promised, and this last part is heard by Tina. Thinking that Lilith will sell her out, Tina throws a bomb at her, knocking her out. Later when Lilith wakes up everyone is gone except for Claptrap, who explains the group went to an abandoned village nearby.
Lilith goes there too and realizes this is where she grew up, remembering the day it was attacked by psychos. Her mother took Lilith to an evacuation ship and left her with Patricia, but she stayed behind. Eventually Lilith finds her old home and even a picture of her childhood, including an old drawing of hers that looks like a woman with wings.
When Claptrap scans it, it forces him to play a message from Lilith’s mother. The woman apologizes for sending Lilith away, explaining she had no choice because she’d never be safe on Pandora. She wants Claptrap to help her understand her destiny and tells Lilith that she loves her before the video ends.
Realizing what her destiny is, Lilith rushes out to find Tina. Meanwhile Tina, Krieg, and Patricia arrive at another mine and search for the Vault. Krieg notices a glow on the ground and destroys some debris to finally reveal the entrance.
Patricia warns Tina that she may die, but Tina doesn’t believe it and inserts the key before standing on the right spot. After lots of expectations, nothing actually happens. At that moment a hologram covering the area disappears and Atlas shows up with the Crimson Lances plus all the psychos he’s hired.
As he asks Knoxx to kill Tina to harvest her parts for another clone, Roland jumps in and opens fire, but Atlas is protecting himself with a force shield. Atlas orders Knoxx to kill them all and she finally sees his true colors, so she tells her men to put down their weapons. She tries telling Roland he was right, only for Atlas’ aircraft to instantly kill her with a laser beam.
Suddenly Lilith appears on top of the mine and teleports next to the team, revealing she’s the actual Daughter of Eridia. This is why he always made drawings of the Firehawk and found the key in the box so easily. Atlas promises to let everyone go if Lilith opens the vault, so Lilith gets ready while ignoring Patricia explaining that she knew.
Her mother handed Lilith over to Patricia so she would never have to open the Vault. When Lilith grabs the key, a blue glow appears on her arm. She puts it down and stands on the right spot, causing the blue glow to bring the rocks up to form a gate.
Lilith floats up and the gate’s power surrounds her, burning her clothes to give her wings that makes her the Firehawk. Using this new power, Lilith shoots energy at Atlas and he almost falls into a hole but holds on just in time. A big psycho throws Tina into another hole as revenge so Lilith shoots energy again, which brings Tina back to the surface.
Tina throws a few bombs and the enemy opens fire, however Lilith’s power protects her. A new fight begins and Lilith protects the others with her power too. Claptrap fights as well, throwing two guys into a hole.
Atlas activates his laser beam and shoots Lilith down, attacking her again every time she tries to recover. Lilith shoots her power back, but Atlas is protected by his force field. When Lilith finally manages to get her wings going again, she flies up and tries to destroy the aircraft, only to discover it’s protected by a force field too.
The impact knocks her out and she crashes on the ground, causing the magical protection to disappear from her teammates. While Krieg is overpowered by the huge psycho, Patricia runs to Lilith and wakes her up. Atlas shoos the laser at her again and Lilith manages to put up an energy shield to protect herself.
Inspired by her, Roland fights the other soldiers and Krieg finally beats the big psycho. With lots of effort, Lilith makes the beam reflect on her shield and sends it back to the aircraft, making it explode and crash. Everyone runs away to avoid getting crushed, but some enemies are killed anyway.
Lilith emerges from the dust with glowing wings, only to discover Atlas has captured Tina. Without hesitation, Lilith opens the Vault and goes inside with them. At first the Vault is dark, but soon the blue glow lights up the place.
As Atlas admires the amazing power, Lilith teleports behind him and steals the device that activates his force field. Tina uses the chance to beat him up before returning to Lilith, who says goodbye before disappearing with the girl. Atlas is left in the Vault where a huge monster soon captures him with its tentacles and takes him down a tunnel.
Sometime later, the team returns to the city to join the celebrations. There are tons of fireworks in the sky and Tina convinces Lilith to have fun too. Lilith makes her wings appear and flies up to make a Firehawk in the sky.
