Several years after the devastating battle that left Chicago in ruins, humanity has grown fearful of the Transformers. An elite CIA unit called Cemetery Wind, tasked with hunting the remaining Autobots and Decepticons, covertly eliminates them under the guise of protecting the human race. Meanwhile, struggling inventor Cade Yeager, living in rural Texas with his teenage daughter Tessa, stumbles upon an old truck that he hopes to refurbish and sell for profit. Unbeknownst to him, the truck is actually Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, who is in hiding and badly wounded.

After Cade revives Optimus, the two, along with Tessa and her boyfriend Shane, find themselves hunted by the relentless government unit and a dangerous new enemy from another world. This adversary seeks to capture Optimus Prime and use the technology within the Transformers to enact a sinister plan. While on the run, the group uncovers a conspiracy involving a tech corporation that has its own interest in the Transformers, pushing Cade and his unlikely allies into a global conflict that threatens the survival of both humans and Transformers.