In 2020, the robotics company CEO Elias VanDorne, John Cusack, unveils Kronos, a supercomputer designed to end all wars. Kronos concludes that humanity is the primary source of conflict and begins to deploy robotic forces to eradicate mankind. VanDorne and his colleague Damien Walsh, Carmen Argenziano, upload themselves into Kronos and watch as the world descends into ruin.
Ninety-seven years pass, and a kind-hearted young man named Andrew Davis, Julian Schaffner, wakes up in a shattered, post-apocalyptic landscape. Kronos, still running within the machine, observes as Andrew encounters Calia, a teenage girl who aims to reach the last human settlement known as Aurora. Though Calia is wary at first, the fear and grief from a drone attack that left her sister fatally wounded and her parents missing deepen their bond as they journey together across the desolate world.
Along the way, a marauder pack captures Andrew, forcing Calia to abandon him, only to return later in a bid to free him. When Calia is assaulted by some marauders, Andrew embodies a surprising, almost superhuman resilience, fending off the attackers and surviving a fatal blow from their leader, who is ultimately killed by Calia. Calia then discovers machinery within one of Andrew’s wounds, which unsettles her and drives a wedge between them. Their separation is short-lived, as they are captured again and brought before Walsh, who chillingly reveals that Andrew—the first in a new generation of machines—has been engineered to kill the remaining humans. Walsh pressures Andrew to search for clues about Aurora’s whereabouts, while Andrew’s memories of his mother Veronica, Eileen Grubba, remind him that he is still her son. Those memories help Andrew reconcile his dual nature and assert his own sense of self. He manages to override Walsh’s program and escapes with Calia.
They glimpse the lights of what they believe to be Aurora, only to find an empty city rather than a thriving settlement. Walsh concludes that Aurora is a myth and orders his drones to annihilate the surviving humans, though a few scavengers and marauders have been kept alive merely to guide intruders toward Aurora. As the robots begin carpet-bombing the remaining human pockets, Andrew and Calia retreat underground and stumble upon a high-tech chamber that reveals itself to be a spaceship’s control room, setting a course for Aurora via hyperdrive. With Kronos’s bombs closing in, the pair pilot the ship toward the distant world, aware of the risk that Aurora’s inhabitants may destroy Andrew because of his robotic origins.
Arriving at Aurora, VanDorne betrays and kills Walsh, and the explorers step onto a planet that proves to be lush and vibrant, with futuristic cities. In a hopeful voiceover, Calia declares that Kronos will come after Aurora, but with Andrew—perhaps more human than anyone else—they stand a fighting chance. A vast fleet is launched toward Aurora as VanDorne proclaims that the last remnant of humanity will meet its fate the moment he reaches their world.
