In the future artificial intelligence is discovered not by problem solving, but by a quirk in an empathy program. Medical diagnostic robots who are programmed to care for the elderly and the dying are the first to become self aware. Their awareness brings another new discovery: ghosts. The newly sentient robots are able to "see" the spirits of the dead. Their built in diagnostic tools such as internal C.A.T. scans, infrared, temperature gauges and vocal stress analyzers, combined with their self awareness and emotive capabilities, make them them the ultimate paranormal investigators. Then R0S13 (Rosie), one of the newly aware robots, meets Paul, the ghost of a teenage boy from twenty-fifteen, and they eventually fall in love. The Central Intelligence Agency, specifically its public science and research department, In-Q-Tel, has other plans for Rosie. After all, it was Director Anna Tomey who first created the artificial scenario that led to Rosie's self awareness. And to the Directors viewpoint, that means Rosie owes them. Now, the fate of the world may lie in the synthetic skin of a robot, and a ghost.