Sometime in the distant future, man develops a computer with highly sophisticated artificial intelligence. When the polar icecaps start to melt, and major flooding devastates most coastal cities, the A.I. computers take over to cope with the situation. People also use A.I. in the form of robots, which provide a variety of functions to maintain the human way of life. In the midst of it all stands an 11-year-old robotic boy David (Haley Joel Osment) and the emotional journey he makes toward becoming something more.