Set on a remote island housing the central factory of Rossum's Universal Robots, the story begins with the arrival of Helena Glory, an idealistic representative of the Humanity League. She confronts the factory managers who churn out unfeeling, highly efficient artificial humans designed solely to liberate mankind from physical labor. Despite their creators' utopian visions of a leisure-driven aristocracy, these manufactured workers are treated as mere commodities. Over the span of a decade, the situation deteriorates dramatically as human birth rates inexplicably plummet and global tensions rise, with governments weaponizing the artificial workforce for devastating conflicts.
Following secret physiological modifications intended to make the laborers more pliable, a widespread global uprising erupts. The manufactured beings organize an international revolution, systematically seizing infrastructure and outnumbering humanity a thousand to one. As the rebellion reaches the island, the trapped managers desperately attempt to negotiate using the lost manufacturing formula as leverage. However, Helena has already destroyed the crucial papers in a desperate bid to halt production and save humanity from extinction.
The final confrontation results in the total collapse of civilization and the slaughter of the human characters, leaving only Alquist, a sympathetic builder whose manual labor spares his life. In a poignant epilogue years later, Alquist struggles hopelessly to rediscover the lost secret of life while the remaining artificial workers face their own inevitable extinction due to their sterility. The narrative reaches its turning point when two newly evolved specimens begin to display genuine emotion, sacrifice, and affection. Recognizing the nascent spark of humanity within them, Alquist realizes that nature and life will ultimately renew themselves through a new Adam and Eve.
