Isle Of Dogs

Spoiler alert! Please do not read the following plot summary if you have not seen the film.In the Japanese archipelago, 20 years into the future, an outbreak of canine influenza spreads throughout the city of Megasaki, with a risk of crossing to humans. The city's 6-term authoritarian mayor, Kenji Kobayashi, signs a decree banishing all dogs to Trash Island, despite a scientist named Professor Watanabe insisting he is close to finding a cure for the dog flu. The first dog exiled is Spots, a white and black-marked pink-nosed dog who served as the bodyguard of 12-year-old Atari Kobayashi, the orphaned nephew and ward of the mayor. But this would gradually be revealed to part of a conspiracy by Kobayashi and his political party, who are seeking to finish what their ancestors attempted long ago in removing dogs from Japan.

Six months later, Atari hijacks a plane and flies it to Trash Island to search for Spots. After crash-landing, Atari is rescued by a pack of dogs led by a seemingly all-black dog named Chief, who is a former stray. The pack decides to help Atari locate Spots, although Chief refuses to join because of his inability to fraternize with humans. Together, they fend off a rescue team accompanied by a band of robot dogs that Kobayashi sent to retrieve Atari. Kobayashi claims Atari was kidnapped by the dogs and vows to kill them as punishment. At the insistence of a female purebred dog named Nutmeg, Chief reluctantly decides to accompany the group on their search.

During their journey, while the dogs reminisce on the foods their owners once fed them, Chief admits that he was once owned by a family, until he bit the youngest child out of fear. They seek advice from two sage dogs, Jupiter and Oracle, who warn them of the existence of an isolated tribe of dogs rumored to be cannibals. Meanwhile, Professor Watanabe finds a cure and shows the results to Kobayashi, who still refuses to lift the dog ban. The professor is put on house arrest for criticizing Kobayashi and is then killed by poisoned wasabi in sushi. An American exchange student, Tracy Walker, suspects a conspiracy and begins to investigate.

During the journey, Chief and Atari are separated from the others. Atari gives Chief a bath, which reveals that his coat is actually white with black markings. Noticing the similarity between Chief and Spots (other than Chief having a black nose), Atari realizes they must be of the same extremely rare breed. Chief remembers being part of a nine-pup litter of which all but one died. He bonds with Atari as they continue their journey.

They rejoin the group, but are ambushed by Kobayashi's men. Spots then arrives at the last second and leads the strays in fending off the assailants before they and Atari's group escape together, causing Kobayashi in publicly announcing Atari to be dead. Spots confirms that Chief is his brother, and reveals that he was rescued by the tribe, who were not actually cannibals, became their leader and is expecting a litter with Peppermint, a female dog whom he mated with. Because of these circumstances, Spots asks permission to transfer his protection duties for Atari to Chief, which Chief grants.

An owl brings word that Kobayashi plans to order the extermination of all dogs on Trash Island and replace them with the robot dogs. Atari and the dogs prepare their journey to the mainland.

Tracy confronts Watanabe's former colleague Yoko Ono, who confirms Tracy's suspicions and gives her the last remaining vial of the cure. At his re-election ceremony, Kobayashi prepares to give the order when Tracy presents her evidence of his corruption. But Kobayashi dismisses Tracy's evidence as foreign propaganda and orders her immediate deportation back to the United States. Chief, Atari and the dogs soon arrive, and confirm the cure works. Atari then presents a haiku, dedicated to Kobayashi, that signifies the sympathy that previously existed between dogs and humans. Kobayashi has a change of heart and revokes the decree, forcing right-hand Major Domo to trigger the extermination. A fight ensues with Kobayashi and Domo in which the "execute" button is pressed, but the poison backfires on the captors thanks to the help of a hacker from Tracy's high school.

During the fight, Atari and Spots are gravely injured by the robot dogs. Atari's remaining kidney fails, but a regretful Kobayashi donates one of his own to save his nephew. Atari becomes mayor of Megasaki due to a ruling and he decrees the dogs' reintegration into society while Kobayashi and his co-conspirators are jailed for their corruption. Tracy and Atari become a couple, and Chief reunites with Nutmeg and takes up the role of Atari's bodyguard. Spots, who had been presumed dead, recovers and secretly raises his litter with Peppermint in the basement of the Kobayashi manor.