The Escape from Jakku took place during the era of the Cold War, involving a scavenger named Rey and a stormtrooper defector named Finn. These two individuals managed to flee Jakku, a desert planet, to get away from the pursuing forces of the First Order. With them was a Resistance droid known as BB-8, who possessed a crucial piece of a map leading to the missing Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. In order to evade pursuing TIE fighters, the group commandeered the famed Millennium Falcon. Finn suggested that Rey fly close to the ground to confuse the tracking systems of the TIE fighters. Rey navigated the Falcon through the Graveyard of Giants, while Finn engaged and destroyed the pursuing TIE fighters. After eliminating the TIE fighter threat, the group successfully escaped into the vastness of space.
In the immediate aftermath of the attack on Tuanul, stormtrooper FN-2187 was overcome with anguish due to Kylo Ren's command to execute all of the villagers. Meanwhile, Poe Dameron was undergoing interrogation aboard the Finalizer, where he was repeatedly questioned about the location of the map that would lead to Jedi Master Luke Skywalker. Eventually, Poe relented, revealing to Ren that the map to Skywalker was concealed within a BB Unit that fled the village. At that precise moment, Finn made the decision to desert the First Order. Seeking a pilot to aid in his escape, FN-2187 liberated the captured Poe Dameron from his holding cell, and together they stole a Special Forces TIE fighter. FN-2187 took control of the TIE fighter's guns, eliminating several of his former comrades within the hangar, and then proceeded to disable the Finalizer's turbolasers located on the exterior of the vessel. However, the TIE fighter sustained damage from a missile fired by the Finalizer, causing it to plummet towards the surface of Jakku.
Not long after Finn and Poe's departure, Captain Phasma informed General Armitage Hux that this represented his initial act of disobedience. Upon realizing that Poe and Finn were heading back to retrieve BB-8, Hux dispatched a squadron of search teams to the Goazon Badlands.
In the meantime, Finn and Dameron had ejected from the TIE fighter just before it crashed, landing separately at a distance from the wreckage. Upon reaching the crash site, Finn discovered Poe's jacket, but found no other trace of the Resistance pilot, and the fighter was submerged in the sand. Believing Dameron to be deceased, Finn began to wander through the desert, discarding his stormtrooper armor along the way, eventually arriving at the nearest settlement, desperate for water.
As Finn stumbled towards a happabore trough in a desperate attempt to quench his thirst, he observed thugs attempting to steal a BB unit droid, which Finn recognized as BB-8, from a woman named Rey, but she defended herself with her staff. BB-8 spotted Finn wearing his master Poe Dameron's jacket, prompting Rey to pursue him. Rey confronted Finn, suspecting him of being a thief. Finn explained that he had met and assisted Poe in escaping the Finalizer, but that Dameron had apparently died during their crash. At that moment, the First Order located Finn in the settlement and launched an airstrike in an attempt to capture BB-8 and the map.
As Finn, Rey, and BB-8 were escaping the ambush, they encountered a Quadrijet transfer spacetug. Finn was hesitant, wondering if they could use a different ship belonging to Unkar Plutt. Suddenly, two TIE/sf space superiority fighters appeared and destroyed the Quadjumper, causing Rey to board the Millennium Falcon instead. Rey took control of the ship, while Finn operated the lower AG-2G quad laser cannon.
The Falcon successfully evaded the two TIE Fighters as they made their escape from the outpost. Shortly thereafter, two more TIE fighters ambushed the Falcon as Finn and Rey entered the Graveyard of Giants. Finn managed to shoot down one of the TIE fighters, but the cannon subsequently became stuck, preventing him from moving it. Rey then piloted the Falcon into the engines of a crashed Super Star Destroyer. As the last TIE Fighter approached the Falcon, Rey deactivated the engines, giving Finn an opportunity to shoot it down. Subsequently, the Falcon departed from the planet.
Back on board the Finalizer, Lieutenant Dopheld Mitaka informed Kylo Ren that the droid had escaped aboard a stolen freighter and that it had been aided by the deserter FN-2187. Ren, in a fit of rage, activated his lightsaber and began slashing at an instrument panel uncontrollably for several minutes before regaining enough composure to inquire if there was anything else in Mitaka's report. Mitaka then informed Ren that they also appeared to have received assistance from a local scavenger girl. Kylo became even more enraged, using the Force to pull the officer across the room by his throat in order to choke him with his bare hands, demanding to know which girl it was.
The Escape from Jakku was first depicted in the 2015 film Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens.