The year is 2035. Aided by psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin, detective Del Spooner is investigating the death of eccentric scientist Dr. Alfred Lanning. The death is initially labeled a suicide, but Spooner suspects a robot might have perpetrated the crime. That seems unthinkable since robots are governed by The Three Laws of Robotics, which state that a robot may never harm or allow harm to come to a human being. As Spooner and Calvin investigate the death, they come to believe that a robot did commit the crime. They are aided in their investigation by Dr. Lanning himself, who appears as a hologram and reveals that he was working on a top secret project at the time of his death.