An alien (ET) gets accidentally abandoned on Earth by his spaceship and is found by a little boy (Elliot) who - with the help of his older brother and his little sister (played by Drew Barrymore) - help ET to contact his home planet to call for help - hence "ET phone home". Before he can be rescued, he is captured by the government who almost kill him - he is rescued by Elliot and return to his home planet.
Also, please try to post messages in plain english, many of us do not speak txt.
Erm, I dont want to disagree with Rekstout... but E.T was already dying, because he'd been away from his home planet too long, and when the goverment captured him... they tried to save his life...
E.T feigned death, and THATS when Elliot and his family "escaped" with him and took him to the forest to meet his ship.