A young girl named Cady and her parents are involved in a car accident in the snow, leaving Cady an orphan. Cady is sent to live with her aunt Gemma, a roboticist at the high-tech Seattle toy company Funki. Gemma is developing M3GAN (Model 3 Generative Android); a life-sized humanoid robot doll powered by artificial intelligence, designed to assist in caretaking duties and being a loyal companion to the child to whom it is assigned. After a faulty test occurs with M3GAN’s functions in their lab, Gemma’s boss David orders her to drop the project.