The year is 1969 and David is sitting with his children to draw their portraits. They're
suddenly interrupted by his wife Jessica who reminds them it's time to go. The family has
a wonderful time in the theater, but on their way out, a couple stops them because they know David
from the news. They are shocked at how real he looks and even touch his hand, commenting
on the fact "he is asleep up there" right now. David wants to tell them how the process works,
but Jessica cuts them short and the family goes home. Outside the house, Jessica notices a strange
van parked nearby but decides to ignore it for now. Afterward the couple puts the kids to bed,
then they enjoy some time dancing together. David’s hands get naughty and get Jessica all
hot and heavy, helping her reach her little death. At that moment, David’s wristwatch begins beeping
and he announces he must leave. Meanwhile Cliff lives a more quiet life with his wife Lana and
their son Henry. They have recently moved out into the countryside to be away from crowds, but Henry
is cold and rather frosty toward Cliff. They live a pretty boring life, and Cliff spends his day
doing chores and only talking to Lana for little things like asking her for dinner. Lana obviously
looks bored and perhaps even depressed. While they dealing with the dirty dishes, Cliff’s wristwatch
also beeps and he has to make his way back to work too. At that moment, both Cliff and David
run to a secret room in the house, sit on special chairs, and press in the passwords, which allows
them to wake up inside a space station. It turns out they're partway into a six-year deep space
mission, but in order to still spend time with their families, there are robot copies of them
called “replicas” back on Earth. The astronauts spend their free time with their consciousness
connected to those robots, and they only wake up when there is something to take care of in the
station or to keep up with the maintenance of the machines and their bodies. Today they have been
brought back because of a warning. Cliff takes off all his personal effects, including the tag that
connects him to his replica, and puts on his space suit before going outside to work on repairs.
Luckily it is nothing serious, and with the help of David guiding him through the comms, Cliff is
done in a few minutes. Then the men share a bit of chitchat before they go back to their lives on
Earth. Cliff heads back to greet Lana, who is in bed reading. She wants to throw a party for the
locals and get to know their new neighbors better, but Cliff is hesitant and promises to think about
it. However Lana can already tell he will say no. Meanwhile David is suddenly woken up by
some noises coming from downstairs. He grabs a bat and very slowly makes his way to the living room,
where he is shocked to find a group of extremist activists similar to Charlie Manson’s cult. The
leader Kappa says David is an abomination and that his group is on a mission to do God’s
work. Apparently they want to see the “machine” and ignore David’s request for them to leave.
David tries to defend himself to no avail, and they aggressively surround him to push him down
against the counter, where Kappa grabs a knife and cuts off his arm. Obviously David doesn't bleed,
and Kappa stares at how freaky this is, telling David that he isn't natural. Next Kappa grabs a
hammer to hit him on the head, and David suddenly wakes up in the space station again. Panicking,
David immediately resets the machine and connects to the robot again, only to find himself tied up
on a couch. The gang has captured his family, and Jessica shows them blood on her hand to
prove they are real, but Kappa does not need that proof. He knows the wife and kids are real people,
but he still thinks they're sinners for making a family with an abomination. Now David has to watch
how these crazy people proceed to murder his family, spread their blood all over the walls,
and then start a fire to burn the bodies and the replica itself. Over at Cliff’s house, he receives
a call in the middle of the night about David’s fate. He heads back up to the spaceship, where
he finds his friend devastated with grief. David doesn't want to talk to Cliff and yells at him to
leave him alone. Cliff connects back to Earth and tells Lana what happened, but she's already seeing
the news in the morning paper. He called Ground Control and he was told to let David be, he has
also learned that the criminals gave themselves up to the police. Cliff was offered guards for
the house, but he turned them down because they won't be found here. He worries about the fact
David will be alone and bored in the station, and Lana wonders why they cannot make a new replica,
apparently it's impossible without having the real body to copy. But even if they could,
David has nothing to come back to. When Cliff goes back to the station, he's really worried,
but while David is talking less, he doesn't show any other weird signs. One morning, Cliff reads
in the newspaper that David’s family will have a televised funeral, and realizes David will have
access to it. In the station, David watches the funeral alone, which makes his depression worse.
Days pass and the isolation plus the lack of anything to do starts to take its toll on David,
who is slowly losing his mind. One afternoon while fishing with his son, Cliff receives an emergency
report about an airlock issue. When he gets to the station, he finds David locked up in a room in
an entranced state, almost as if he is trying to jeopardize the mission or end things for himself.
Cliff forces the door open and immediately checks on his friend, but David says he's ok. When he
returns to Earth, Cliff shares his worries with Lana. If David does something to ruin the mission,
Cliff will suffer the consequences too and maybe even die. Lana suggests that he should let David
use Cliff’s link for just an hour so he could catch a break from the isolation and breathe some
fresh air, but to keep all of this from Henry. Later Cliff returns to the station and while they
go over the routine checks, Cliff offers David to use his link. David immediately accepts, but Cliff
first goes back to tell Lana that David is coming, so she should be kind to him. Afterward, Cliff
uses his tag and sends David to his replica. Once on Earth, David has to take a moment to get used
to this new body. Lane gives him a warm welcome and takes him for a walk through the forest,
showing him her favorite spot next to a huge tree. David takes in the sights and sounds, marveling at
various insects, the air, and even the touch of leaves. It's all too much and he ends up crying,
so Lana hugs him to comfort him. After they come back, David takes an extra look at the house while
Henry watches from inside. When David returns to the ship, he thanks Cliff for the experience.
While Cliff goes home, David is already feeling a bit better and his old inspiration comes back
for him to start sketching again. A few days pass and when Cliff comes back to the station,
David shows him a drawing he made of the house, which impresses Cliff with how accurate it is when
David is working from memory. David points out that if the family buys some oils, he could do a
complete painting as a thank-you gift. Of course he would need to share the link again for that,
and he understands if Cliff doesn't want to. Cliff promises to think about it and returns home to
discuss the details with Lana, promising it would only be an hour once a week. At first Lana is
hesitant, but Cliff points out that painting could be the therapy David needs, so in the
end Lana agrees. The next time David wakes up on Earth, Lana has prepared a whole art set up plus a
record player in the barn. David notices she has a sci-fi book and they chat about the genre for
a bit before she leaves him to work alone. For the first time in a while, Lana feels like she
has had a real conversation. Days pass with the two astronauts sharing the link as they agreed,
and painting again is clearly having a good effect on David. At first Lana leaves David alone,
but eventually they get to talk more and grow closer, so she spends time in the barn while
he paints. One day, David brings Lana closer to teach her how to make a stroke on the painting,
and Lana feels warm by the fact her husband’s body is being touchy with her again. When David is
alone in the station, he starts spending his time drawing portraits of Lana. Sometime later, David
convinces Lana to drive out to the hardware store to pick up oil for the paintings. While Lana buys
the oil, David leaves the car and admires what is like to be in a town again. Once Lana is back, he
drags her to the bookstore and buys his favorite sci-fi book for her. The cashier recognizes him,
so he pretends to be Cliff, but things get awkward when she mentions David’s tragedy and Lana has to
cut the conversation short. They go back to the car and Lana puts her hand on his shoulder to
comfort him, not pulling away when he covers it with his own. Later in the evening, David
returns to the station with more inspiration than ever, and Lana can't stop thinking about the warm
touch of his hand. The next time he comes over, David finally finishes the painting by drawing
Lana on the pad, which Lana finds flattering. Then David asks Lana to dance with him to celebrate,
but in the middle of it, his hands start getting frisky. Lana pushes him away and
she runs into the house, unaware that Henry is outside watching. David follows Lana and says
he can tell she wants him by the way she looks at him, but Lana puts him in his place, pointing
out she sees her husband and not the visitor inside. Heartbroken, David returns to the barn
and is shocked to discover the painting has been ruined. Henry is there with paint on his hand,
so David hits him for it. The boy runs into the house and when Lana hears what happened, she tells
David he needs to leave. When David wakes up at the station, he doesn't tell Cliff what happened.
Cliff returns to Earth and has an argument with Lana, who is upset because a stranger hit Henry,
but Cliff doesn't see the problem because he's done it too. He wants David to have closure,
so he convinces Lana to let him come one last time to finish the painting. The next
time David comes to Earth, Lana leaves with Henry, so David works alone. In the station,
Cliff discovers the treadmill is not working, so he has to find something else to do. He enters
David’s room to look at his drawings, and among the normal ones, he finds drawings of Lana without
clothes. David suddenly sees an alert on his watch and returns to the station, but it's just Cliff,
who demands an explanation for the drawings. David tries to explain it's just a fantasy,
and when Cliff hits him anyway, David tells him that he has everything but he doesn't care,
which leaves Cliff thinking. Back on Earth, Lana is waiting with Henry in the car until she knows
Cliff will be back. Cliff connects to his replica and immediately destroys the painting in the barn
before starting an argument with his wife. Lana swears she didn't do anything with David but also
admits she had some warm reactions, but that is because she is bored and lonely. Realizing
he hasn't been taking good care of his wife, Cliff hugs her and apologizes. The next time
Cliff returns to the station, David apologizes too and asks for one last visit to Earth so he
can apologize to Lana as well. Furious, Cliff turns him down and makes up some lies about Lana
saying David is disgusting and a snake. Sometime later, Cliff is on Earth trying to be a better
husband and father. He suddenly gets an alert on his watch and rushes back to the station, where
David informs him something broke outside. Once again, Cliff leaves his personal effects behind,
puts on his suit, and goes to check the station panels. However he finds nothing broken there,
and David won't answer him through the comms. Worried, Cliff tries to come back and is shocked
to find the door locked. Cliff begins yelling and for several minutes nothing happens. Once
he is finally allowed back inside, David says he was in the bathroom and that the
computer sent a false report. Cliff finds this suspicious, and when he reaches for his things,
he notices his tag is not there. Suddenly David takes the tag out of his pocket, and Cliff panics.
He grabs the tag and rushes back to Earth, where he wakes up to discover his replica covered in
blood. Terrified, he goes to investigate, following a trail of bloodstains until he
finds the bodies of his family, which makes him have a complete breakdown. Moments later,
a distraught Cliff returns to the spaceship, where a chilling David offers him a seat.