In the future, widespread use of remotely controlled androids called "surrogates" enables everyone to live in idealized forms from the safety of their homes. Compared to their surrogates, the human operators are depicted as slovenly and homebound. Protected from harm, a surrogate's operator feels no pain when the surrogate is damaged. In Boston, FBI agent Tom Greer has been estranged from his wife Maggie, since their son's death several years before. He never sees her outside of her surrogate and she criticizes his desire to interact via their real bodies.
