In the near future, drones fly over cities in the United States, conducting health surveillance to track epidemics and isolate them before they grow. Robot is one such drone; it flies over St. Louis, Missouri, cheerfully asking people to cough into tissues so it can test their samples and evaluate if they are sick. One day, Robot enters a building complex in East St. Louis and encounters a healthy human who asks Robot if it could visit a friend, Shareeka, who has come down with an illness. Robot speeds over to Shareeka's house but, instead of finding her there, finds a small human, Jalebi, who tells Robot that Shareeka went away. Despite Shareeka's absence, Robot stays and talks to Jalebi, who is a science student and interested in the technology that powers Robot. After the day's over, Robot corresponds with its administrator, Bey. Bey tells Robot that the government agency funding drone-based health surveillance, the CDC, has gone lost funding. Robot will be abandoned and left to his own devices. Unable to survey people any longer due to lack of resources, Robot begins exploring St. Louis. It makes friends with a group of crows, quickly picking up their language, and bonds with a particular crow named 3cry. Robot also continues visiting Jalebi and helping her with her science homework. One day, Robot enters an apartment complex and discovers many sick humans there. Robot contacts Bey, who advises Robot to communicate with a human and reach out to a local health collective. Robot flies to Jalebi, who leads it to a health collective named Community Immunity. A human at Community Immunity, Janelle, thanks Robot for bringing this matter to their attention, but says that she needs more data on the location of the epidemic in order to localize it. Robot gathers 3cry and the group of crows; together, they gather information and successfully stop the epidemic from spreading. In the end, Robot reflects on its new friendships and the meaning they have brought to its existence.