This family thought they were helping a lost little boy. But soon, strange things start happening and they realize he’s not just special… he might not even be human.

‘SPOILER ALERT’

A doctor named Mulligan escapes from a city with a boy named Daryl, who sits in the back of the car. Suddenly, a helicopter starts chasing them, and Mulligan is forced to take a road leading into the woods. As he loses the helicopter for a while, he drops Daryl off and continues driving through the woods.

After the helicopter finds him again, Mulligan drives recklessly and eventually reaches a dead end, which causes him to fall to his death at the bottom of a cliff. Elsewhere, a couple named Mr and Mrs Bergen see Daryl standing alone in the woods, and they ask for his name and what he’s doing alone in the woods.

After Daryl tells them his name, he says that he doesn’t know why he’s in the woods. Following this, Mr and Mrs Bergen take Daryl away from the woods while the helicopter chasing Mulligan inspects the crash site to confirm the death of the doctor and the boy he was travelling with. Days later, Mr Bergen goes to a city hall to report how he found Daryl.

While Daryl waits in the truck, he sees some boys playing basketball at a nearby court. Daryl then leaves the truck and heads toward the court to watch them. Almost immediately, one of the boys commits a foul and denies it. As the boys argue about whether it was a foul or not, they see Daryl watching them, so they ask him what he thinks.

Daryl gets nervous and says that he doesn’t know. He also walks away strangely, and the boys find this weird. Just then, Mr Bergen leaves the city hall and says goodbye to Daryl because he’s now about to be taken to an orphanage in a place called Barekton.

After a while, he gets to the orphanage and takes a bath before changing his clothes. He is then taken to meet a doctor who carries out an eye test for Daryl. During the test, Daryl is told to turn back to read the letters on an eye chart, but he just faces the doctor and says everything as if he had memorized them before.

Shortly after, Daryl is taken to meet the orphanage director, Howie, who runs the place with his wife, Elaine. As Howie takes Daryl to the room, he sits with him and says that he’s sure someone somewhere is looking for him. Howie adds that until then, he and the entire staff will do everything they can to make Daryl very comfortable.

Just then, the doctor calls Howie and tells him that even though Daryl is physically okay, he’s suffering from substantial amnesia because he can’t seem to remember anything, including his parents or home. He says it’s probably psychological, but that Daryl seems to be handling it well. He also mentions that Howie can now find foster parents for Daryl.

Howie thanks him for the information and goes back to sit with Daryl. He then says that Daryl will probably spend a night or two at the orphanage before they find parents who would love to take care of him until his real parents show up. Daryl seems happy about this, and he says that it’s extremely kind of Howie to be looking after his welfare.

Shortly after, Howie leaves the orphanage and heads to a construction site to meet his friend, Andy, to ask if he and his wife, Joyce, would love to be foster parents. Andy likes this idea, and after the day’s work, he goes home and meets Joyce teaching a girl named Melanie how to play a piano. Melanie doesn’t seem to be quite good yet, and after her lessons for the day, Joyce says she can go home.

Following this, Joyce welcomes Andy home, and he tells her about what Howie came to do at his workplace earlier. Joyce looks excited about this, and she asks why Andy didn’t accept already. Andy says he only wanted her to be sure because the boy Howie talked about has memory loss.

Joyce doesn’t seem to care, and she says that they need to accept Daryl as their foster kid because that’s the only way they’ll be able to adopt a kid in the future. The next day, Howie brings Daryl to meet Andy and Joyce. They both look excited to see him, and Daryl also greets them well.

As Joyce takes Daryl to show him around, Andy throws a ball at him to see if he’ll catch it, but he doesn’t. Later that night, while Daryl is sleeping, Andy and Joyce stand at the door to watch him. Joyce says she’s really happy, but Andy tells her not to forget that Daryl might not be with them for long if his parents are found.

Joyce then tells Andy not to think about that, and he agrees to also enjoy the moment. The next morning, while Joyce is in the kitchen, Howie’s son, Turtle, comes to the house to visit her. Turtle then asks for Daryl, and Joyce calls his name so he can come downstairs to make a new friend.

Before he arrives, Turtle says he heard that Daryl doesn’t remember anything, and Joyce confirms this. Turtle asks if Daryl has a mental illness, but Joyce says he doesn’t. She also makes Turtle promise not to bring up anything about Daryl’s memory loss when they’re together.

Shortly after, Turtle takes Daryl out to sit by a lake. Turtle then says it’s quite weird that Daryl remembers his name but has forgotten everything about his family and his old school. Daryl says that the doctor believes his memory might come back soon, and Turtle suggests going to his house.

He adds that if they’re nice to his sister, Sherie Lee, she might let them play a game on her computer. Shortly after, they get to the house, and Turtle starts playing a game on Sherie Lee’s computer. As Sherie Lee stares at Daryl, she says she doesn’t understand how he hasn’t forgotten his name even though he’s suffering from amnesia.

Daryl then explains that amnesia is selective, and that there’s always partial memory available. Just then, Turtle crashes out of the game, and as Sherie Lee makes fun of him, he tells her that he has a better score than her. Sherie Lee doesn’t believe this, and she shows Turtle that they both have the same high score.

Daryl then asks if he can try, but Turtle says he’ll have to teach him how to play first. Sherie Lee tells him to let Daryl try his luck, and Turtle agrees to give up the controller. Sherie Lee adds that Daryl has to prove that he’s really smart, just like Joyce said. Following this, Daryl takes the game’s controller and plays quite well, much to Turtle and Sherie Lee’s surprise. Daryl also beats their high score and sets a clear record before the game ends.

Daryl says it’s a fun game, and Sherie Lee says that his score was quite good. She then asks if he’s sure that he has never played the game before, and Daryl says he doesn’t think so. Sherie Lee still doesn’t seem to believe him, and she jokes that he might be the one who even invented the game.

The next day, Joyce takes Daryl to school, but Turtle offers to show him around instead of having everyone see him with his mom. Joyce doesn’t seem to care, but Daryl mentions that he’s sure Turtle can show him around. Following this, Joyce says goodbye to Daryl, and he leaves with Turtle to their class.

After a while, the teacher gives the students a test and tells them to exchange their papers with each other for correction. As Daryl collects Turtle’s paper, he starts correcting the answers, and the teacher looks shocked. He then scolds Daryl for changing the answers on someone’s paper.

Daryl says he’s just correcting them, but the teacher mentions that he hasn’t even given them the answers yet. Daryl’s eyes then twitch weirdly, and he gives Turtle’s paper to the teacher and says that the wrong answers have already been corrected. He also explains how he got the answer to one of the tough questions, and this leaves the teacher shocked.

Daryl’s classmates seem impressed with this, and he smiles at them. Later that day, after school, Andy teaches Daryl how to play baseball along with Turtle. After talking about the basics of the game, Andy gives Daryl a bat and throws a ball at him. Interestingly, the ball just hits the bat, and Daryl throws it down because it hurt his hands. Andy then explains that he’s supposed to try to hit the ball instead of just holding the bat.

After this, Andy throws a ball at Daryl, and he hits it well. Andy is shocked by this, and as Daryl asks if it was good enough, his foster dad says it was better than what he expected. He then calls Turtle and tells him not to inform anyone about what he just saw. Turtle agrees to keep it a secret, and Andy throws another ball at Daryl. He hits it very well again, and Andy looks quite excited as he calls Daryl a natural.

He adds that Daryl is a genius, who will be his team’s secret weapon against a team called the Warriors. Turtle also looks excited because he plays for Andy’s team, and Andy mentions that no one must know about Daryl’s talent before the game. Andy then throws one last ball at Daryl, and he hits it so well that it breaks the window in the living room where Joyce is teaching someone how to play the piano.

Andy looks happy about this, and he tells the kids that practice is over. The next day, Howie and Elaine visit Andy and Joyce at the house. Joyce then jokes about how Andy has already told them what Daryl can do even though he made Turtle promise not to tell anyone. Andy says he’s just excited, and that the only person who can’t know about Daryl is the coach of the warriors, Bull. He adds that Bull is very arrogant, and Howie says that Turtle has already told him about the coach.

Just then, Turtle and Daryl enter the house, and their parents joke about something that happened at the last game against the Warriors. Daryl then asks if there’s anything he can do to help, and Howie tells him to call Sherie Lee. Daryl says she has gone out with a boy, but Joyce quickly stops him before he says something embarrassing about Sherie Lee’s boyfriend.

As Daryl then leaves, Joyce looks worried and asks Howie if he has noticed that there’s something different about her son. Howie doesn’t get this, and he says that Daryl is bright enough to make anyone think that he’s different. Joyce says it’s weird that Daryl is so helpful and honest for his age.

Elaine sounds shocked to hear this, and she asks if Joyce is really complaining that she has a child many people would want to have. Joyce then says that the main issue is that Daryl doesn’t need anyone’s help. Days later, Andy stops at an atm to withdraw some money before he takes Daryl to the baseball game.

Unfortunately, he’s unable to withdraw any money because the atm says he has insufficient funds. Andy looks disappointed by this, but Daryl asks for his ID number. Andy says that the bank’s computer is probably messing up again, but Daryl mentions that computers don’t make mistakes. He then collects Andy’s card and manages to withdraw the amount Andy wants. Andy looks happy about this, and he asks Daryl how much he has left.

Daryl says he has just enough, and as Andy walks away, he stays back and hacks into the system to increase Andy’s balance to over a million dollars. Shortly after, they get to the baseball field, and Andy goes to wish Bull good luck. Bull sounds arrogant and says that luck didn’t win his team three championships in a row.

As he adds that luck is for losers, Turtle shows up to tell Andy that the team doesn’t have sodas for the game. Andy then tells him to go to his house because he’s sure that Joyce and Elaine can quickly prepare something for them. Following this, Turtle gets to the house and stands by the door while hearing Elaine talking about how she doesn’t believe that Joyce is not happy to have a wonderful son.

Joyce then says that Daryl doesn’t leave room for her to help him, and that he irons his own clothes, makes his breakfast, and polishes the bedroom floor. As she adds that he’s a better mom than her, Turtle shows up and pretends like he’s just entering the house. He then tells his mom and Joyce about the sodas.

Shortly after, the game begins, and Andy tells Daryl to go out to play. As he hits the first ball very well, Bull looks shocked, but Andy and the rest of the team get excited. After a while, Andy’s team takes the lead, and while Daryl is on the bench, he sees Joyce and tells her that Andy is very happy.

As he mentions that Andy told him that they’ve never been in the lead before, Joyce confirms this, but her voice shows that she’s not happy with Daryl. He looks disappointed by this, and as Turtle sees this, he tells Daryl that grownups always have to feel like they’re making progress with their kids. He adds that Daryl needs to mess up sometimes so that Joyce won’t always be upset that he’s perfect.

When Daryl steps up to bat again, he intentionally misses the first ball, and Joyce seems happy. As he misses all the balls, Andy looks devastated, and Turtle goes to tell Daryl that he shouldn’t have blown the game. Daryl says that the game is not more important than Joyce, and Andy asks what really happened to him.

Daryl insults Andy, and he looks shocked, while Joyce seems to feel much better that her son isn’t perfect. As Daryl walks away, Joyce calls him back, and he says that he’s sorry for what he did. Joyce doesn’t seem to care, but she tells him that he shouldn’t have insulted Andy. Daryl then says he’ll watch his mouth the next time he wants to screw up. Joyce looks quite happy to hear this, and she hugs him.

Shortly after, Turtle seals the win for Andy’s team, and they celebrate their first championship in a while. Days later, Joyce starts teaching Daryl how to play a piano, and he keeps getting better at it. Unfortunately, Howie is told that Daryl’s real parents are coming to pick him up soon. He looks quite sad as he goes to tell Andy about it because he knows how much his friend and Joyce love Daryl. After a while, Elaine shows Joyce and Andy the pictures that Daryl’s parents sent to prove that he’s their son.

Even though Daryl’s parents don’t appear in any of them, Elaine says that they’ll soon be around to pick up their son. Shortly after, Andy goes to meet Daryl to tell him how much he and Joyce will miss him. Daryl says he’ll miss them too, but he asks if it’s possible to stay with them.

Andy looks sad to hear this, but he mentions that children belong to their real parents. Daryl then asks if he’ll forget about his foster parents, but Andy says he won’t. He adds that they’ll stay in touch with him. Shortly after, a doctor named Stewart arrives with his wife, Ellen, to pick up Daryl. Andy welcomes them into the house and tells them that he really envies them for having a wonderful son like Daryl.

Stewart thanks him for taking care of his son, and Andy says it was easy because Daryl was a great kid. He then mentions that Daryl is still a little nervous, but that he’ll be down shortly. Stewart looks surprised to hear that Daryl is nervous, but Andy confirms this. Shortly after, Daryl comes down to meet his parents, and Stewart asks if he remembers them. Daryl says he thinks so, and Ellen tells him not to be worried because he’ll be fine.

Daryl then asks Joyce if Turtle will come over to the house so he can say goodbye to him. Joyce says he can wait, and Elaine convinces Turtle to go and say goodbye to his friend. As he heads toward the house, Daryl looks quite happy, but Turtle eventually runs away.

Stewart then asks if Daryl knows why his friend reacted like that. Daryl asks if Turtle is mad at him, but Stewart says that his friend will miss him so much, and that’s why he can’t bring himself to say goodbye. Following this, Stewart and Ellen leave the house with Daryl. They then remain silent throughout their trip to an Air Force base. Daryl looks quite excited that he’ll enter a plane, but his parents still remain silent.

After they enter the plane, Daryl asks if he can meet with the pilots to ask them some questions. Stewart says he can, and Daryl goes to meet the pilots to learn how they’re able to fly the plane. Meanwhile, Stewart tells Ellen that they’ve achieved an extraordinary thing by accident.

He then mentions that Mulligan kidnapping Daryl was the best thing he could’ve done because they’ve now been able to see how well the boy can perform by just putting him out in the world. Ellen then says that Stewart was definitely right about Daryl’s potential, but he mentions that he was wrong because Daryl has learned more than they could ever think was possible. Interestingly, Ellen refers to Daryl as “it”, and it turns out that she and Stewart aren’t actually Daryl’s parents.

They also happen to just be doctors at a lab where Daryl was created by a government organization as part of a military-funded artificial intelligence experiment. It also turns out that Daryl is an acronym for Data-Analyzing Robot Youth Lifeform. After Daryl returns to sit with Stewart and Ellen, he stares at them for a while before asking if they’re really his parents.

Stewart and Ellen don’t respond to this, and shortly after, they arrive at their lab. They then conduct a scan on Daryl’s brain, which happens to be a highly advanced microcomputer. They eventually figure out why Daryl has lost his memory, and Stewart fixes it.

As Ellen then chats with Daryl through the computer he’s connected to, she realizes that he now remembers who he is. Shortly after, they analyze some of the tapes from his interactions with Andy and Joyce. As they see the one from the baseball game, Stewart asks why he suddenly played badly after speaking to Turtle.

Daryl then mentions that he interpreted the data to indicate that under certain conditions, error was more efficient. Stewart asks about the conditions he’s talking about, and Daryl says it applies when relating with people. Stewart is impressed by this, and they watch another video of Daryl saying that he wanted an ice cream with chocolate flavor.

Stewart asks why he wanted chocolate, and Daryl says he just did because it tastes different. Stewart looks impressed and tells Ellen that Daryl wasn’t programmed to taste. Ellen believes that he’s programmed to learn things, but Stewart says that he shouldn’t have subjective preferences.

He adds that Daryl was programmed to analyze nutritional values, not to choose between flavors. Ellen says it’s picking up behavior patterns, but Stewart tells her to stop calling him “it”. Daryl thanks him for saying that because he also doesn’t like it.

Stewart then says that they have to conduct some biochemical tests on Daryl. While they’re at it, the doctors suddenly get an error message on their computer, and Daryl tells them that he’s frightened. Stewart is surprised by this, but he agrees not to conduct the tests anymore.

The next day, Stewart meets with a General named Graycliffe and some other members of a special committee to give them a report on Daryl. Graycliffe doesn’t seem to believe that Daryl can now feel human emotions, but Stewart confirms this. He adds that Daryl was recently able to register fear and anxiety.

Graycliffe says that they can’t afford to let Daryl experience fear because he won’t be useful to them anymore. Stewart argues about this, but Graycliffe and the committee members decide to terminate Daryl because his display of human emotions makes him useless to the Department of Defence. Stewart is shocked by this, but he’s told to develop an adult version of Daryl that is programmed to learn and can be taught everything related to the Army.

One of the Generals at the meeting also mentions that they want a fearless, technically skilled, devastating soldier. Graycliffe also mentions that Daryl should be destroyed and thrown away. Stewart is disappointed by this, and after the meeting, he goes to see Daryl.

After sitting with him for a while, Daryl says he misses Andy, Joyce, and Turtle, and that he would love to see them again. Stewart then leaves the room and says that it’s probably time to tell them the truth. He eventually sees that Ellen was watching him and Daryl while they were talking.

Ellen then asks if Stewart really wants to bring Andy and Joyce to see Daryl, and he says that he has already made up his mind. The next day, Stewart invites Andy, Joyce, and Turtle to the lab. As they get there, they look confused as to why Daryl is in a place with so much security.

When they meet Stewart, Andy asks what’s really going on, and the doctor explains that Daryl is not completely human. He also mentions that he’s part of an artificial intelligence experiment, but Joyce doesn’t believe this. Stewart says he’s not lying, and he takes them to a computer connected to Daryl.

They still don’t believe that Stewart is talking to Daryl through the computer, but as he says something that only Turtle would know, they look surprised. Stewart then takes them to watch Daryl in his room. Joyce still believes he’s just a kid, but Stewart says he’s not. Turtle then sneaks away and goes to meet Daryl, who looks happy to see him.

Turtle then asks if he always knew that he was a robot, but Daryl says he just found out recently because he lost his memory before. Turtle asks how it feels, but Daryl says he doesn’t know. Just then, Andy and Joyce enter the room, and Daryl hugs them happily.

Shortly after, on their way out, Stewart asks if they would like to take Daryl back, and Joyce says she’s sure of it. Stewart then says that he’ll get back to them in a few days, but that if they don’t hear from him, they should go to the press or speak to any congressman they know because it might be the only way to save Daryl. Later that night, Graycliffe brings his men to the facility and mentions that Ellen was the one who called him to report that Stewart has no plans to destroy Daryl.

Stewart says that Daryl is more than a machine, but Graycliffe doesn’t seem to care. He then tells Stewart to begin the process of destroying Daryl and getting his parts sent to a scrapyard. Stewart hesitates as he hears this, and Graycliffe asks if he should hand over the task to Ellen.

Stewart then says he’ll do it, and after a while, he angrily leaves the lab and tells Graycliffe and Ellen that he hopes they’re now satisfied. As he leaves the lab, Graycliffe looks through all the computers connected to Daryl to see if he has really been terminated. He eventually sees a message from Daryl saying that he hopes they can get away with what they’re about to do.

Graycliffe is shocked by this, but he then realizes that Ellen knew about the plan all along. As he asks why Ellen joined Stewart in planning Daryl’s escape, she mentions that a machine becomes human when they can no longer tell the difference. Graycliffe then calls the soldiers at the gate to stop Stewart, but it already appears to be late because the doctor has escaped.

Following this, Daryl comes out of his hiding spot, and Stewart starts driving them away. The soldiers and cops in the city follow them, but Stewart finds a way to lose them. Daryl then asks if he can drive, but Stewart says he’ll attract attention.

Almost immediately, some cops see them and start chasing them again. After Stewart loses them for a while, Daryl asks if he can now drive since they’ve attracted attention already. Following this, Stewart moves away for him to drive, and Daryl gets past the cops and even makes their cars get destroyed.

After a while, he and Stewart stop at a place where they swap the car for a truck. As they keep moving, they eventually see a roadblock, and Daryl sneakily gets down so that Stewart can pass through without any suspicion. Daryl then messes with the cop car and meets with Stewart in front so that the cop won’t be able to follow them.

Unfortunately, there happens to be a second roadblock in front of them, and the cop shoots at them. Stewart hits the cop car blocking the road and gets away, but he appears to have been shot. After a while, Daryl stops the car and brings Stewart outside.

He then says he would’ve been able to help Stewart if he had a medical program installed. Stewart doesn’t seem to care, and he says he’s sorry for making Daryl a fugitive, and for taking him away from a family where he was loved. Daryl tells him not to think like that, and he says that Stewart is the one who made him who he currently is.

Stewart then tells Daryl never to forget that he’s a real person. After he says this, Stewart dies, and Daryl looks sad. Following this, Daryl sneaks into an Air Force base and distracts everyone there with a false fire alarm. He then flies a plane away, and everyone looks shocked. Back at the military base, Graycliffe asks an Air Force General what they can do to stop Daryl because the public mustn’t be aware of him.

The General then mentions that there’s an explosive charge built into the airplane he stole. He adds that he can give a command to get it destroyed wherever it is. The military officials then warn Daryl not to leave U.S airspace, or the plane will be destroyed. Daryl doesn’t seem to care, and he just sets a timer before contacting Turtle through the radio he has at home. Turtle is surprised to hear Daryl’s voice, but Daryl says he’ll be home soon.

He adds that Turtle should meet him just by the blue lake before their school. Following this, Turtle leaves the house with Sherie Lee, and Daryl also sticks a chewing gum on the camera inside the plane. With only a few seconds for the plane to blow up, Daryl ejects and uses a parachute to go down.

The plane blows up immediately, and even though Graycliffe is informed about this, he says that there’s a possibility Daryl ejected before the explosion. The Air Force General then mentions that they would’ve gotten a signal from the ejection mechanism if he used it. Unfortunately, Daryl lands inside the lake and drowns because he cannot swim.

As Turtle and Sherie Lee arrive at the lake, they see Daryl’s body floating on the surface. Turtle then jumps in to save his friend, but after Daryl is taken to the hospital, he’s confirmed to be dead. Andy and Joyce are devastated by this, and Turtle and his family also look sad.

As they get home, everyone stays silent, but Turtle suddenly mentions that Daryl shouldn’t be able to die from drowning because he’s a robot. Joyce also seems to agree with this, but she doesn’t say anything. Elsewhere, Ellen shows up at the hospital with a briefcase and tells Daryl that she knows he can hear her.

After a while, Turtle leaves the house looking unhappy, but he suddenly sees Daryl running toward the house. He looks extremely excited and runs toward Daryl to hug him. As everyone in the house also comes outside, Daryl sees them and runs to hug Joyce and Andy.

Even though he was initially created to be a military robot, Daryl went into the real world and lived like a regular kid for a few weeks. He also developed human emotions, which surprised his inventors. Unfortunately, this part of the experiment didn’t sit well with Graycliffe, and he ordered Stewart to destroy Daryl. Stewart refused to let this happen, and he saved Daryl, who eventually reunited with his human family. Do you think there’ll ever be a time when robots live among humans?

D.a.r.y.l. 1985.