Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

An opening crawl reveals that the galaxy is in a state of civil war. The Rebel Alliance has stolen plans to the Galactic Empire's Death Star, a space station capable of annihilating a planet. Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan has possession of the plans, and before she is captured by the Empire on her ship, she hides them, along with a holographic recording, in a "droid" named R2-D2. The small droid escapes with his humanoid partner C-3PO to the surface of the desert planet Tatooine below. On Tatooine, the droids are captured by Jawas, who sell them to moisture farmer Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. While Luke cleans R2-D2, he accidentally triggers part of a holographic message, in which Princess Leia requests the help of "Obi-Wan Kenobi". The only Kenobi he knows is Ben Kenobi, a hermit who lives in the nearby hills, but Uncle Owen dismisses any connection.

Later, R2-D2 escapes, looking for Obi-Wan. This causes Luke and C-3PO to go out after him. Luke is attacked by Tusken Raiders (or Sand People) and knocked unconscious. He is saved by the "old wizard" Ben Kenobi, who reveals himself to be Obi-Wan. He takes them back to his hut and tells of his days as a Jedi Knight, and explains to Luke about a mysterious energy field called "the Force". He also tells Luke about his father, Anakin Skywalker, gives him his father's lightsaber, and tells him that Anakin had been "betrayed and murdered" by Obi-Wan's former pupil, Darth Vader. Obi-Wan then views Princess Leia's message, in which she begs him to take R2-D2 and the Death Star plans to Alderaan, where her father will be able to retrieve and analyze them. Obi-Wan asks Luke to accompany him to Alderaan and to learn the ways of the Force. After discovering that his home has been destroyed and his aunt and uncle killed by Imperial stormtroopers, Luke agrees to go with Obi-Wan to Alderaan, and to learn to become a Jedi like his father. At the seedy Mos Eisley Spaceport, the group finds a smuggler named Han Solo and his Wookiee friend Chewbacca, who agree to transport them on their ship, the Millennium Falcon. Attacked by stormtroopers as they board the ship, they make a hasty escape and prepare for a hyperspace leap to Alderaan.

Meanwhile, Leia has been imprisoned on the Death Star and has resisted interrogation. Grand Moff Tarkin, the Death Star's commanding officer, destroys her home planet of Alderaan as a means of demonstrating the power of the Empire's new weapon. The planet's destruction is felt by Obi-Wan aboard the Millennium Falcon while he is instructing Luke about the Force. Arriving at the coordinates for the planet, they are bombarded instead by rubble from the explosion. Following a TIE Fighter toward what appears to be a small moon, they are captured by the Death Star's tractor beam. Using hidden compartments to surprise Imperial stormtroopers and donning their armor as disguises, Han and Luke escape to a command room to wait while Obi-Wan attempts to disable the tractor beam. While they are there, R2-D2 discovers that Princess Leia is scheduled for termination. Han and Luke stage a rescue on the cell block but their escape route is cut off and they are forced down a garbage chute into a compactor. About to be crushed by the walls closing in, they are saved by R2-D2's last-second shutdown of the compactor. Making their way back to the Millennium Falcon, their path is cleared by the spectacle of a lightsaber duel between Darth Vader and his former master, Obi-Wan Kenobi. Warning the Dark Lord that he will become "more powerful than you can possibly imagine," the old Jedi allows himself to be struck down as the others escape toward a hidden rebel base. A beacon hidden aboard the ship allows the Empire to track their route.

After landing on Yavin IV, the Death Star plans are analyzed by the Rebel Alliance and a potential weakness is found, one which will require the use of single-man fighters to slip past the Death Star's formidable defenses. Luke joins the assault team while Han collects his reward for the Princess' rescue. The attack proceeds as planned but suffers heavy losses without a successful torpedo hit in the small thermal exhaust port which would create a chain reaction. During Luke's run, Darth Vader engages the Rebels in ship-to-ship combat, but before he can destroy Luke, the Millennium Falcon appears and destroys one of Vader's wingmen. The other wingman, attempting to veer away from the Falcon, collides with Vader's fighter and crashes into the trench wall. Vader is last seen spinning out of control into outer space. Guided by the voice of Obi-Wan to "use the Force," Luke shuts off his targeting computer and fires the successful shot which destroys the Death Star seconds before it could attack the Rebel base. At a grand ceremony, Princess Leia awards medals to Luke and Han for their heroism in the battle.