On the Inner Rim planet of Jakku, Rey was fighting off thieves with her quarterstaff. Earlier, she was on her speeder when she found a crashed starship in the desert. She got off her speeder and journeyed into the ship. She scavenged for small parts on the ship in hopes that junk boss, Unkar Plutt, would pay ration packs for them. As Rey was scavenging, she noticed two thugs come up from behind her and demand that she give them her comlink. She knocked one of the thugs over with her staff and tripped the other one before they could shoot her, but a thug shot a stray bolt that hit a power relay, setting of a chain reaction and giving them a small amount of time to escape. Rey and the thugs stopped fighting and they managed to leap out of the ship right before it exploded. The explosion also blew up the thug's speeder, leaving them stranded in the Starship Graveyard while Rey escaped on her speeder.
Rey arrived at Niima Outpost, and realized that something was wrong. She asked "Crusher" Roodown what had happened and he informed her that Unkar Plutt had been kidnapped by marauders led by a man named Zool Zendiat. They had shot their way through Niima Outpost and kidnapped Plutt. Rey also asked why they took him and Zuvio told her that they were looking for an old J9 worker drone that Rey had sold to Plutt months ago. They were both interrupted by the Gabdorin Krynodd who told Zuvio to not get involved and claimed himself as the new junk boss. Krynodd had wanted to run Niima Outpost for years and finally had his chance. As Krynold spoke with Zuvio and Rey, Bobbajo accidentally walked into him. Krynodd shoved Bobbajo and sent him flying off his feet. Rey ran over to help Bobbajo, who called out to his animals that he carried as they ran away. She ran after a bloggin and managed to grab it and return it to Bobbajo. Bobbajo offered Rey his corn-cluster as a reward, Rey was surprised that Unkar Plutt would let him have one but Bobbajo reminded her that Unkar was no longer in charge.
Nearby at the starship of Zool Zendiat, the Fortune, Zool, brandishing a vibro-knife, asked Unkar Plutt again what he did with the J9 unit he was after if Unkar had broken up the droid including the head. Unkar Plutt told him that the J9 did not have a head but now Unkar remembered the droid and Zool Zendiat asked who had the droid now.
At Rey's home she looked around until she found the head of the J9 droid. Later that night, Rey was riding on her speeder when a large birds flew over her. Rey followed it and found Unkar Plutt lying on the ground, while Zool threatened to feed Plutt to the birds if he did not tell him where the droid was.