Set between Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope , the film follows a young Han Solo (Alden Ehrenreich) as he escapes his home planet, joins the Imperial Navy, and later falls in with a gang of smugglers. He meets his future co-pilot Chewbacca, the suave gambler Lando Calrissian (Donald Glover), and embarks on a dangerous heist to steal raw coaxium for the crime syndicate Crimson Dawn.