In 2035, ten years after the events of the previous film, the Jaeger Program has been reinstated and now thrives under the watchful eye of Mako Mori, the Senator who runs the Pan Pacific Defense Corps (PPDC). Former Jaeger pilot and Stacker Pentecost's son, Jake, ekes out a living for himself in the Relief Zones (abandoned sections of cities destroyed by past Kaiju battles), mostly by stealing and selling Jaeger parts on the black market in Santa Monica, California. After tracking a disabled Jaeger's power core to the secret workshop of fifteen-year-old Jaeger enthusiast Amara Namani, both are apprehended by the PPDC following an altercation between Amara's small, single-pilot Jaeger Scrapper and the law enforcement Jaeger November Ajax. Mako persuades Jake to return to the PPDC as an instructor to avoid prison, with Amara as his recruit.