In the near future synths - synthetic humans - are robots who resemble people in every way beyond having emotions and are seen as an ideal workforce. Joe Hawkins buys one to help his busy wife Laura with their children and they call her Anita. She is a model of efficiency and little daughter Sophie loves her though the elder girl Matty is jealous of her and soon Laura starts to find her creepy. They are unaware that Anita is one of three synths with the potential to develop human feelings who are being tracked by a man called Leo with his synth Max after they were abducted. One, Niska, is now a sex worker whilst Fred is being examined for his human qualities. Elsewhere elderly widower George Millican seeks to protect Odi, the synth who has become like a son to him after Odi malfunctions in a store and George is ordered to dispose of him. Written by don @ minifie-1

As Leo continues his search Fred is still captive in the facility owned by the sinister Hobbs - who scrutinizes his memory and sees an image of Anita. Anita herself continues to unnerve Laura and the spiteful Matty though she does, unwittingly, entice Matty's brother Toby. For Laura Anita's excellent rapport with Sophie poses the biggest threat and so she returns her synth. Keeping Odi in hiding George finds his officious new synth Vera exasperating whilst policeman Pete Drummond is also disturbed by the dependency his temporarily invalid wife Jill has on their synth Simon. After attacking an aggressive client Niska makes her escape from the brothel. Written by don @ minifie-1

After Anita has saved Toby's life in a road accident and is commended by most of the family Laura is dissuaded from sending her back and even begins to warm to her, though she is baffled by the synth's unusually high intelligence and suspects illegal modification, which Anita denies. Meanwhile, to stop Odi from being taken away and recycled, George lets him loose in the woods. Hobb, still trying to find out from Fred the whereabouts of the other missing synths, arrives at the brothel where Niska has killed a punter and he is recognized as being an authority figure. After rendezvousing with Leo who is appalled at her crime Niska picks up a single father in a bar. Leo himself receives a message which he believes to be from Anita though it is from the conniving Matty. Written by don @ minifie-1

Laura begins to believe that Anita may be able to develop human traits after meeting a woman who claims her synth is also sentient though whilst she is out Joe has sex with Anita. Leo meets up with Matty but she refuses to admit knowing Anita . However Leo and Alex call on George, who worked on the original synth project with Leo's father and reveals that Leo's father imbued several synths with an alternative programme to give them consciousness. Leo then gets a call from Niska, who has infiltrated an undercover fight club where synths are systematically smashed up but where she has attacked the human punters before escaping. Meanwhile Laura and Joe are amazed to find that Anita is not the brand new model they were led to believe but a fourteen year old synth who has been reprogrammed. Written by don @ minifie-1

Leo sends Niska to George for her own safety, though Vera is suspicious. George tells her that Hobb worked with him and Leo's father David in creating the synths and when Pete, still angry with his wife for her dependency on Simon, arrives to tell George that Odi has been sighted, he hides Niska. Mattie meets Leo to discover Anita's original identity but Anita is not forthcoming and Mattie returns home with her. Leo is bitterly disappointed as he needs all the original 'super' synths to come together to achieve advanced consciousness. He is unaware that Hobb's experiments on Fred make this unlikely. Back at the Hawkins' house Laura discovers that Joe had sex with Anita and throws him out. Written by don @ minifie-1

As Laura admits to Mattie that, as a child she felt responsible for her little brother's death, she is overheard by Anita, who briefly recalls how, as Mia, she lost her son. Having supposedly destroyed Fred Hobb has actually hidden him, aware that the five Synths need to meet up for collective empowerment but Fred escapes and goes on the run. Meanwhile a damaged Odi returns to George who, helped by Niska, mends him whilst Mattie contacts Max and Leo. The latter, though injured, explains how the four Synths saved him after his mother's death and how he is part Synth himself. Mattie persuades her mother to help the group but, thanks to Joe, the police give chase and things do not end well. Pete finally gets round to having sex with Karen but is shocked to reveal what she really is. Written by don @ minifie-1

As Anita explains to Laura that she was created as Mia to look after Leo the pair start to bond. Karen tracks down Niska, revealing that Dr Elster created her in his wife's image but Leo rejected her as a mother and she was presumed 'dead'. She opposes the Synths' plan and draws a gun, accidentally killing George. Niska escapes to the Hawkins' house, where she is joined by Fred, Max and Leo - along with a bewildered Joe, who is persuaded by his family to shelter the fugitives. Unfortunately Karen turns up on the door-step, accompanied by Hobb and a squad of armed police. Written by don @ minifie-1

As protesters march against the increased use of domestic Synths Hobb prepares to experiment on the brains of his captives in his efforts to crack the secret of artificial intelligence. Now fully sympathetic to Anita/Mia and the others as sentient creatures the Hawkins family, assisted by Pete Drummond, threaten to expose Hobb's experiment to the press unless he releases the Synths - which he does though with a tracking device inside Fred. On the run the family and the Synths mingle with the protesters before taking refuge in a church crypt. Here Leo takes a gamble on Karen's loyalty to her kind in order to ensure their future survival. Written by don @ minifie-1