The victim of a government experiment to create superintelligent humans learns the cause of the strange dreams he has been having—and that he will self-destruct by his 21st birthday unless he finds the scientist who ""created"" him by implanting a chip in his brain. He becomes a fugitive when he and Maria, a girl who crashed his 20th birthday party, are accused of killing another ""cyb"" actually shot by a government agent named Winston, bent on tracking down all the cybs and killing them. Ed's only hope for survival is a doctor who worked on the project, Victor Heisenberg.

Ed checks into a hospital for brain surgery, and learns disheartening news about Victor Heisenberg.

Ed and Maria meet a cyb who wants to run away with them, but is ignorant of her condition.

Ed and Maria search for Victor Heisenberg's grave and become involved with animal-rights activists.

Maria's con-artist father tracks her down.

Ed and Maria find their exploits chronicled in a comic book created by a cyb who's plotting to kill the senator in charge of the neurocybernetics project.

Ed and Maria's feelings for each other are tested after partying with a surfer and his friends.

Ed prepares to give himself up when Winston kidnaps his mother, but Maria suspects a trap.

The host of a pirate TV show offers to help Ed and Maria expose the project.

Ed and Maria visit Cali, a 35 year-old cyb, to discover the secret of his longevity.

Winston finally catches up with Ed and Maria, who are hiding out in Los Angeles. Once captured, Ed is taken to a facility where he meets with others like him and is told that there may be a way to counteract the rapidly deteriorating chip in his head.

Maria discovers that everything isn't as it seems at the retreat where Ed hooks up with others like him. As things spiral out of control, Winston may be their only hope for escape but Maria is shocked when it appears that all of the subjects, including Ed, have terminated.