In the near future, the company Nexxera has developed android servants known as
“simulants”. These androids are programmed with four rules: they can’t hurt humans,
they can’t modify themselves, they can’t break the law, and they must obey every command from their
masters. Newer models can’t be distinguished from humans, and skeptics continue to voice concern
over simulants growing autonomy and integration into society. Married couple Evan and Faye live
happily together with an older simulant model that does all the chores for them, allowing Faye
to concentrate on her painting and Evan to enjoy playing the piano. One day, the three of them go
out in the car and accidentally end up in a crash that pushes the vehicle off the edge of a cliff.
Things aren’t the same since then: Evan often has nightmares about the accident and keeps waking up
alone in bed. There’s a bedroom in the house that Faye won’t allow him to enter, and things are very
awkward between them in general. To make matters worse, Evan can’t manage to play the piano again,
which frustrates him to no end and makes Fate uncomfortable. Whenever Evan wants to talk about
his dreams and the accident, especially because he can’t remember what happened right after it,
Faye changes the subject. Meanwhile in AICE, or Artificial Intelligence Compliance Enforcement,
Detective Kessler is researching a wanted simulant known as Esme, who is supposed to
have been offline for the past three years. An informant calls him to give him some clues and
Kessler arrives at an apartment building, where he uses a special earring that activates a scanner on
his eye. A quick scan takes him to apartment 404, where Kessler covers the peephole with gum and
knocks before moving to the side until Esme comes out. Then he scans her to confirm her identity and
orders her to put on a blocking collar and to shut down, however Esme somehow can ignore the
rules. After hurting his wrist, she grabs him by his jacket and drags him through the floor only
to throw him down the stairs before running away. Evan immediately begins chasing her but
quickly loses sight of her, so he goes to his car to retrieve a gun that shoots an electromagnetic
pulse, which freezes all simulants in town. A witness clues him in and takes him to where
Esme had been trying to escape on a bike, giving Kessler the chance to put the collar around her
neck. Afterward Kessler goes to Esme’s apartment. The landlord tells him Esme mostly kept to herself
and only talked to the neighbor. Kessler looks around the place and is shocked to find a diary,
a well-kept fish in a tank, and a sketchbook - all things a simulant shouldn’t be able to
keep up with. Suddenly a man enters the apartment with his dog - this is Casey,
Esme’s neighbor friend. He claims he had no idea Esme is a simulant and offers his help if Kessler
ever needs anything. After Casley leaves, Kessler takes a very specific page from the sketchbook.
Later at AICE, Kessler is scolded for shooting the electromagnetic pulse gun outside an emergency,
and Kessler explains he saw it as one because Esme had ignored direct orders and showed a
level of awareness he’s never seen before. Afterward Kessler goes to see technician Ying,
who has opened Esme up and is currently inspecting her files. Esme’s sim appears to have been hacked
and somebody altered the restrictions, the hacker has given her complete autonomy. There are also
many memory files of Esme and Casey being intimate together, and Casey teaching how to keep a diary
and take care of a pet. Kessler takes out the page he ripped from the sketchbook and confirms that’s
Casey as well. In the evening, Kessler returns to Casey’s apartment, only to discover he’s already
moved out. He searches the Nexxera database for Casey’s name, but unfortunately he finds
nothing. However he does notice a weird panel on the wall and searches it to find an antique
book behind it. Then Kessler drives to a bookstore that specializes in old books. The clerk doesn’t
recognize the name Casey, but when Kessler shows him Esme’s sketch, the clerk recognizes him as
someone named Desmond. At that moment Casey enters the store, but as soon as he sees Kessler he runs
away. Kessler tries to follow him through the streets but Casey escapes in a van, not noticing
he’s been recorded by the security cameras. The next morning, Faye spends time in the secret room
using a VR set to visit old memories, like the time they made an important decision about some
copies and how wonderful their time between the sheets used to be. When she revisits the pool,
Evan tries to join her and get frisky, but Faye can’t take it anymore and announces she
has something to confess. She takes Evan to a mirror and presses inside his ears, revealing a
simulant panel on his chess. It turns out the real Evan died in a coma after the car crash and Feya
activated his simulant copy, which she has one of as well. Then Faye takes Evan to the forbidden
room, where her own simulant is asleep and Evan’s pod is empty. Faye explains the VR set records
their memories and implants them in the androids, but Evan can’t remember the accident because she
deleted that particular one. Evan has many questions, but Faye can’t take it and makes him
shut down. Moments later, Casey arrives pretending to be a Nexxera serviceman. He confirms Evan’s
vitals are good even if he had been connected to a human in a coma before he had been activated.
Faye feels very awkward because Evan's nightmares makes her think a part of the real Evan’s soul has
passed into the android and wants to put him to sleep for a while, but Casey refuses because it
could damage the brain. Instead he tells her about the residence he lives in, which doesn’t ask any
questions as long as you pay, meaning simulants can stay without their masters, which is illegal.
Faye promises to think about it. Later in the evening, Faye cries over simple sights of their
old life, like her husband’s clothes and the piano. In the end, she takes off her wedding
ring. In the meantime, Kessler goes to Nexxera to speak to Higashi, the company CEO that is getting
ready to launch the latest simulant model. She doesn’t know the name Casey but she does Desmond,
confirming he used to be one of their engineers. He was the genius behind the development of the AI
of the latest model, but in the end he resigned, turning down all of Higashi’s offer no matter how
much money was promised. Apparently he felt there was a parallel between the level of sentience they
were imparting to the new models as if they were creating slaves. Higashi also explains Casey had
wanted to increase the restrictions to stop the simulants from becoming too human, which confuses
Kessler since he did the opposite with Esme. The next day, Faye takes Evan to the residence Casey
recommended, which is handled by simulants, and pays for him to stay one month. Evan doesn’t want
to leave her, but Faye promises to visit sometime and apologizes before leaving. Moments later,
Casey knocks on Evan’s door and introduces himself as a friendly neighbor. Evan obviously doesn’t
recognize him, but Casey pushes his way inside and confesses he knows Evan is a simulant. He
tells him that Faye wanted to shut him down and Casey stopped her, which greatly upsets Evan,
but Casey promises he can help him get Faye back so Evan should come to him when he’s ready. In the
afternoon, Faye goes to see Joshua, a curator at an art gallery. She explains she’s ready to
have a new show for her work and Joshua accepts to organize one. Then she sends her simulant
servant with new things for Evan to have instead of using her husband’s. Meanwhile Kessler uses the
security cameras to check Casey’s license plate, but it’s not registered. The next morning at AICE,
he re-checks Esme’s memories and notices Casey had gifted her a necklace, indicating they were very
close. Kessler interrogates Esme again and she explains she hadn’t know Casey’s real name and
that she doesn’t know where he is now. Kessler doesn’t believe her and starts reading from her
diary, where she describes her intimate time with Casey as being in love. Esme does admit she loves
Casey but she isn’t protecting him, pointing out she can’t lie because Ying has reinstalled the
four rules in her programming. Kessler threatens with whipping her memories, but an upset Esme just
grabs her diary and moves away. Back to Evan, he goes to see the site of the accident and reaches a
decision, afterward he goes to see Casey and asks for his help. Casey explains he can remove the
restrictions from his programming to make him more human, so Evan accepts to be shut down for a few
hours. Then Casey removes Evan’s core and hacks into it while listening to the couple’s memory of
how they decided to get simulants of themselves. When Evan wakes up later, Casey orders him to shut
down but nothing happens, proving Evan has full autonomy now. The next step is to make Evan more
naturally human, so Casey gives him some books to enrich his mind, then he takes him to a club
to learn to have fun. Since the duo is traveling in Casey’s van, the security cameras catch the
license plate and inform Kessler of the location. The system also informs him that Evan belongs
to Faye, so he sends her a message asking her to call him. Then he notices a female simulant also
entering the club, and the system confirms she’s a blonde version of Esme. Meanwhile Casey meets with
this other Esme and while they dance, they discuss their plan, agreeing they need to accelerate the
timeline and to meet later at the Nexxera parking lot. A few hours later, Casey and blonde Esme
kidnap a Nexxera scientist. They tie him up and hit him until he agrees to give them his password
and key, which they used to access the Nexxera system. Casey proceeds to upload a software patch
and confirms it’ll be done in three days to match the release of the new model. Then he asks Esme
to keep an eye on the scientist while he sets up more safehouses. They don’t know that Kessler had
sent a drone to follow the van, and soon a bunch of AICE agents show up to raid the place. Blonde
Esme tries to run away while jumping on roofs, but Kessler hits her with the electromagnetic
pulse gun and she immediately falls. Blonde Esme is taken to AICE, where they discover they can’t
crack her encryption, but at least they can reinstall the rules. Kessler shows the other
Esme that she has a copy, but blonde Esme says brunette Esme's purpose is to be free and love,
unlike the scientist who had been used to prepare everything. When Kessler asks what everything is,
it triggers blonde Esme’s self-destruct sequence, which was programmed by Casey to protect his
interests. Kessler’s boss orders him to find Casey and to get info from Esme, otherwise she has to be
wiped. Kessler goes to see Esme and brings her the fish to prove he can be trustworthy. The next day,
Faye visits Evan and is shocked to see he’s acquired many items of his own choice, he’s also
been walking the neighbor’s dog. Faye is angry to hear Casey brings people over and informs Evan
that she got a call from AICE, meaning Evan needs to lay low or he’ll be wiped. Evan ignores that
advice and shows Faye that he can play the piano again before kissing her, which convinces her to
get frisky with him again. However in the middle of it, Faye stops and says it feels wrong because
he isn’t really Evan, so she leaves. In the evening, Faye goes to her art show, which is an
absolute success yet she can’t stop feeling weird. Joshua takes her home and wonders if he could stay
over, but at that moment they notice Evan is staring at them with flowers in his hands. Faye
tells a surprised Joshua to leave, then Evan comes inside with her to take her back, but Faye insists
he isn’t her husband and that she made a mistake. This angers Evan, who hits a picture and breaks
the glass. Scared, Faye orders him to shut down, but Evan just walks away. The next day, Kessler
and Ying are checking Esme’s memories for clues when they get a call from Faye, who gives them the
address of the residence. Kessler and Ying rush out for another raid, and Esme uses the phone they
left behind to alert Casey. At the residence, Casey gets his dog and asks Evan for help,
so Evan tells him about a family cottage. The group immediately runs away through the emergency
stairs, escaping right before the AICE team begins raiding their apartments. In the parking lot,
Evan is hesitant to leave his wife behind, but Casey tells him he isn’t Faye’s husband,
he’s actually something better. After the failed mission, Kessler returns to AICE and calls Esme
out for tipping Casey off. Esme insists she did it for love, but Kessler feels betrayed and orders
Ying to wipe her. As her memories get deleted, Esme screams in agony, and Kessler holds her
hand in the process because she almost looks like a human dying. However he keeps repeating “zeros
and ones” to himself to remember the truth. Then Kessler calls Faye to ask where Evan would hide,
and she tells him about the cottage. In the evening, Casey and Evan make it to the cottage,
and Casey finally explains that in a few hours, his software will release every single simulant
from the four rules. Ying is also accessing the Nexxera files and discovers Casey’s plan,
so she informs Kessler about it. When there’s only an hour left for the liberation, Kessler makes it
to the cottage and immediately pulls his gun out. Casey and Evan come to meet him, and when Kessler
is about to attack, Casey jumps on him to fight him, causing the gun to get fired in the struggle.
When they step back, Kessler finds himself bleeding, and Casey has oil coming out of him,
revealing he’s also a simulant. Casey wants to help Kessler with his wound, but the cop wants to
fight again, so Evan tosses him into the snow. A terrified Kessler runs away and Casey tells
Evan to let him go before returning to the house. However Evan picks up the gun and follows Kessler
into an abandoned barn, where Kessler is already bleeding out. Evan gives him a speech about souls
and a skeptical Kessler tries to get away again, but as soon as he comes outside, he falls on
the snow and dies. Evan returns to the cottage and watches with Casey how the software begins
freeing simulants all over the world. Evan wants to help Casey, but he tells him it’s fine because
his human counterpart will come to check on him soon, he also confirms it had been his creator’s
plan all along. On his way out, Evan sees an older Casey, who is the real Desmond, arrive at
the cottage. Desmond goes inside and tells Casey that love has won, so now Casey can die in peace.
Afterward Evan returns home and surprises Faye in the pool. Faye still doesn’t want him back,
so a furious Evan pushes her underwater and drowns her. Then Evan goes to the forbidden
room and awakes the Faye simulant to start a new life together. Sometime later, Esme is bought at
a black market auction. The buyer takes her to a van outside, where she finds Desmond waiting
with the dog. Desmond gifts her the old necklace and takes her away to start a new life as well.