How do you explain humanity to a machine? When Alek, a SimAid designed to perform domestic chores, experiences blackouts and awakens in a strange lab, he confides in his scientist owners’ ten-year-old daughter, Bean. As their unlikely friendship continues to develop, Bean helps Alek not only to understand human behaviour, but to discover the truth behind his unusual upgrades. Is Alek the product of an unethical experiment, or is he becoming something more? Alek is the latest version of a SimAid, a mechanical household domestic. He belongs to a family of scientists working for TARIA, Technology And Robotics In Action, an Ontario-based company responsible for world-renowned advancements in Artificial Intelligence. One of Alek’s jobs is to care for the Archambaults’ only daughter, Bean. The precocious young girl, who does not connect with her workaholic parents nor her cruel classmates, forges a friendship with Alek. After losing time and awakening in a strange lab, Alek realizes that his programming has been altered. He begins to experience odd sensations and feelings. When Alek’s creator, Adam Trent visits the family, Alek worries about Trent’s intense interest in him. As another year passes, Alek continues to change subtly, but realizes he must hide these alterations. Adam Trent, along with Bean’s mother, Catherine, decide to experimentally endow Alek with a pair of human hands, presumably to improve his usefulness. Following the successful implantation, Alek is next fitted with human eyes. His biological add-ons increase his feelings that he is becoming more human. While Sabine ages from a quirky child into a teenager struggling to find her own identity, she continues to spend much of her time with Alek, teaching him about humour, music, and art. Bean’s father, Sebastien, suspects something is different about Alek. He takes him to his lab where he discovers the truth - a truth that will tear a family apart and make everyone question their beliefs about what it means to be human.
