John Michael Kirkpatrick is anxious to make his mark with his work on his father's university research project, LX8000, a female robot built to mimic humans. But LX8000, or "Lexi," as John Michael calls the playful, insatiably curious bot, has a mind of her own, and when she unexpectedly turns up on his doorstep in the middle of the night, she sets them both on a journey from the glittering city to the last outpost of human habitation. As time...