A suicidal police officer mourning the loss of his wife finds hope in an illegal robot found in an alleyway, however as the authorities get suspicious he is determined to protect her.

SYNOPSIS:

It is the distant future, Robots have been outlawed after becoming common place, due to several incidents resulting in human fatalities.

Theo is a borderline suicidal ex-cop struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife. He spends most of his time sitting in a bar drowning his sorrows, trying to block out the memories of her passing. One night whilst walking home he spots something amongst the trash in an alley and is stunned to see a female robot hiding.

He tries to beckon the robot out promising not to hurt it, but the robot is reluctant. Theo gives up and walks home, only to find the robot following him. When he arrives home he invites the droid into his apartment and offers it a place to stay, but it seems confused at all around it. He decides to call it Zoe, but as it cannot speak, Theo has trouble communicating and so calls his technician friend Riz over to take a look.

Riz is impressed by the robot commenting on its advanced status. He explains that it’s designed to learn like a human and so needs to be taught how to speak. He offers to take the robot off of Theo’s hands and dispose of it, but Theo is reluctant to let him. Despite the risk of harbouring an illegal droid, Theo tells Riz he’ll take care of her and ushers him out of the apartment.

Theo tries to teach Zoe how to speak, but it’s slow going and he decides to call it a day, going to bed. He’ll try again in the morning. However during the night Zoe discovers the television set and switches it on. She spends the whole night watching and so in the morning she has developed basic speech skills and Theo is surprised to see her talking to him when he wakes.

Later that day, Theo is visited by an old police colleague, Frank. Theo hides Zoe and speaks to Frank. He is told they have found the body of a professor who was building robots illegally. They suspect one of his droids killed him and escaped. They had a tip off that Theo was in possession of a robot. Theo denies the accusation and allows Frank to search the apartment, but he doesn’t find Zoe.

After Frank leaves, Theo questions Zoe over the body of the professor and asks if she killed him. She says she was told to by the professor, he ordered her to do it. Theo explains that she’s being hunted and if found she’ll be destroyed. Robots are illegal. She doesn’t understand, thinking she is human. Theo corrects her, but she refuses to accept his claim. She gets angry, smashing the table and this concerns Theo.

He promises not to let them take her, but they need to get away as soon as possible. It’s only a matter of time before Frank gets a warrant for a more thorough search. They pack a few things and exit the apartment, but find their escape blocked by Frank and several officers. Theo protests her innocence and assures them she is no threat, but Frank is only following the law. Zoe tells Theo she must be punished for what she did and offers to go with them willingly. Theo watches as they take her away. Frank agrees not to arrest Theo, for old times sake. Theo returns to his apartment and looks at a picture of his wife. He removes a gun from the bedside drawer and puts it to his head.

ZOE