In a futuristic 1998, a young girl, Gloria, plays happily with Robbie, the robot companion and caregiver her parents bought from U. S. Robots. However, her mother, Mrs. Weston, tries to convince her father, Mr. Weston, to sell Robbie back to U. S. Robots. She worries something will go wrong with his programming and Gloria will be harmed. Mr. Weston assures her it's more likely that one of them, humans, goes crazy and hurts her. She worries about the robot being her only friend, and her not being integrated into society. She tells Mr. Weston the other neighbors are scared of the robot and won't let their kids come near their property. Robots have been outlawed in the public in New York, and anti-Robot sentiment is building.

Mr. Weston gives in and sells back Robbie and buys Gloria a dog. They tell Gloria Robbie just disappeared. Gloria is heartbroken and falls into a deep depression. After a long time, Mrs. Weston decides a family trip to NYC for a month will cheer her up. Gloria appears excited for the first time in a long while--but on the way to the city she says she thinks they're going to look for Robbie. Her parents try to keep her away from robots but she wanders to a talking robot exhibit in a museum and asks where Robbie is, causing the talking robot to short circuit. Her parents take her home just as depressed as before.

Mr. Weston tells Mrs. Weston he's arranged for a factory tour of U. S. Robots. He proposes that Gloria won't think of Robbie as a human after seeing how robots are made from inanimate parts. However, on the factory tour, Gloria sees Robbie among the robot workers. She runs toward him, putting her in the path of a tractor. However, Robbie reacts faster than a human and saves her life. Mrs. Weston accuses Mr. Weston of planning for Gloria to find Robbie, and he confesses. However, she is convinced to take Robbie back.

A robotics expert named Susan Calvin recounts this entire story. She says four years later, in 2002 the mobile speaking robot was invented. For a few years after that, most countries banned robots—meaning Gloria probably had to part with Robbie. Susan joined U. S. Robots in 2007 and shortly after, the company developed an extra-terrestrial market for robots.