Surrogate

In 2017, surrogates allow people to operate idealized bodies from the safety of home. Tom Greer, an FBI agent, is estranged from his wife Maggie after their son's death, and they only interact through their surrogates. Society's dependence on surrogates is pervasive, masking deeper tensions about risk, identity, and control.

Two people are killed when their surrogates are destroyed at a Fort Point club, triggering a homicide investigation. Tom and his partner Jennifer Peters trace the crime to Miles Strickland, the son of VSI founder Dr. Lionel Canter. They learn a new weapon was used to overload surrogates and kill operators.

They determine a human wielded a weapon designed to overload surrogates and kill operators. Miles Strickland becomes the key suspect, linked to VSI's network. The hunt for Strickland intensifies.

Tom and Peters close in on Strickland, but he uses the weapon and injures Tom. Tom's surrogate is destroyed during the chase, forcing him to confront the world without a surrogate. Tom crashes into the anti-surrogate zone known as the Dread Reservation, where the Prophet leads a mob.

With no surrogate, Tom learns the weapon's true origins: it was developed under a government contract to load a virus that would disable surrogates. The weapon’s fail-safes protecting operators are disabled. The project was scrapped and prototypes were supposedly destroyed.

Tom discovers that Andrew Stone, his FBI superior, supplied the weapon to Strickland and ordered Dr. Canter's assassination at VSI's request. Jared Canter, Lionel Canter's son, had been using one of his own surrogates when killed, highlighting the broader conspiracy. The connections between VSI, Stone, and Canter come into sharp focus.

An unknown man murders Jennifer Peters in her home and hijacks her surrogate. The Prophet orders the weapon to be delivered to her, signaling a deliberate move to unleash the virus through a trusted surrogate. The incident confirms the personal risk behind the wider scheme.

During a military raid on the Dread Reservation, the Prophet is shot, revealing he is actually a surrogate controlled by Canter. The audience learns that Canter himself has been pulling the strings behind the murders and the weapon. Tom realizes the scale of manipulation within the surrogate network.

Tom steals the weapon’s activation code from Stone, and Jennifer escapes with the codes. This exchange sets the stage for a pivotal showdown that could decide the fate of the entire surrogate system. The pursuit returns to intelligence and operational centers.

Tom confronts Canter at his home and uncovers that Canter has been controlling not only the Prophet, but also Jennifer and the surrogate used to kill her. In a climactic moment, Canter uses the weapon in FBI Headquarters to kill Stone. Canter reveals his grave misjudgment of VSI’s exploitation of surrogacy.

Canter declares his intent to unleash the virus to erase surrogates worldwide, then disconnects from Jennifer’s surrogate and swallows a cyanide pill. Tom seizes control of Jennifer’s surrogate and, with the network administrator, begins to implement a countermeasure. The fight shifts from revenge to saving lives.

Tom and Bobby Saunders manage to insulate the virus so operators can survive their own bodies, but a final choice remains. They decide to permanently disable surrogates to end the cycle of abuse and profit. The world must learn to live anew, without the safety of their former 'perfect' bodies.

With surrogates offline, people come out from their homes, confused but free to face the real world again. News reports document the global impact of the shutdown and the uneasy transition ahead. The old order collapses as society recalibrates its relationship with technology.

Tom returns home and shares an emotional embrace with Maggie in her real form. The moment marks a tangible return to authentic human connection after years of mediated existence. Their relationship, rebuilt in truth, becomes a core symbol of the film’s message.

An aerial view shows the collapsed surrogates scattered across cities while overlapping news reports describe a world 'on its own' again. The film closes with a stark reminder of technology’s reach and humanity’s resilience in reclaiming control of their lives. The future remains uncertain, but people are no longer living secondhand lives.