In the cafeteria of Kurtman High School, Rachel, a new transfer student, sat alone at a table, ignoring her lunch and staring intently at her phone screen, watching her idol Ashley’s performance. As she left the cafeteria, she noticed the music teacher putting up posters for the talent show fundraiser. Shy and reserved, Rachel tightened her grip on her books and quickened her pace into the classroom when the teacher called out to her.
After school, her father Kevin picked her up in his pest control van, complete with a rat extermination ad and two giant mouse ears on the roof—much to the amusement of her classmates. Her older sister Jack sat in the passenger seat, engrossed in her phone and barely acknowledging Rachel, instead mocking their father’s attempts to comfort her. Rachel put on her headphones, finding solace only in Ashley’s music.
Rachel owned every one of Ashley’s albums and never missed an interview. What she admired most was that Ashley’s inspiration came from her subconscious—song ideas would come to her in her sleep and become full-fledged hits upon waking. Her songs were not only catchy but also filled with positive messages. This image was carefully crafted by her aunt Catherine, who took her in after Ashley’s parents died when she was young. At just 22, Catherine became her guardian and helped build her successful career.
In a recent interview, Ashley introduced a Q-version doll of herself called the "Ashley Stand-In," an AI robot that simulated her thought processes. Fans lined up overnight outside stores to buy it, and Rachel was no exception. The next morning, she begged her father to get her one as a birthday gift. On her birthday that Wednesday, Rachel got her wish. She placed the doll on her desk—a simple "Ashley, wake up" brought it to life. Talking to it felt like talking to Ashley herself, and soon the doll became Rachel’s closest confidant.
One day, the doll heard Jack playing electric guitar and was amazed by her creativity. Jack preferred the classic rock bands their late mother had loved and had little patience for Ashley’s pop style. Though she felt a strange connection after talking to the doll, she refused to admit it and dismissed the Ashley Stand-In’s opinions.
Encouraged by the doll, Rachel decided to perform Ashley’s hit song "Full Force" at the upcoming talent show. The performance, however, was a disaster. On the way home, Rachel tearfully worried that she had let the Ashley Stand-In down. Though Jack had been distant since their mother’s death, she still cared about her sister. Seeing how Rachel measured herself against an impossible standard, Jack hid the doll in the attic while Rachel was out, later claiming it had been thrown out with the trash. The sisters grew even more distant.
Kevin had been developing an auto-targeting rat zapper and finally had a prototype, though the voltage still needed adjustment—no one wanted to see a charred rat corpse. While demonstrating it to his daughters, breaking news interrupted: superstar Ashley had fallen into an irreversible coma after a severe allergic reaction to a seafood burger. Seeing Rachel’s heartbreak, Jack retrieved the doll from the attic as a keepsake. But without Ashley’s spirit, it was now just an empty shell. Saddened, Rachel stored it away.
Six months passed, and Jack made efforts to repair her relationship with Rachel. One day, a TV program discussing Ashley’s condition accidentally awakened the doll. It opened its eyes, saw Catherine tearfully on screen, and began frantically bumping against books, uttering fragmented words.
Confused, Rachel and Jack investigated. Jack connected the doll to their father’s work computer and found an anomalous sector in its AI. When she tried to unlock it, the entire system became corrupted. The doll let out a piercing scream, begging them to "unplug it from its butt," startling both sisters.
Jack had accidentally removed the AI’s limiter, unleashing its full capabilities—the doll was now fully sentient, a true extension of Ashley’s mind. What it revealed next shocked them: the seafood allergy story was a lie.
Catherine was not the loving aunt she appeared to be. She had molded Ashley into a money-making machine, controlling her with prescription drugs from Dr. Monk. As Ashley grew older, she developed a taste for dark punk style, which Catherine vehemently opposed. With her guardianship contract valid until Ashley turned 25, Ashley secretly stopped taking her medication, saving the pills as evidence to break free.
Seeing this as betrayal, Catherine and Dr. Monk overdosed her dinner, inducing the coma. Using advanced technology, they extracted creative ideas from Ashley’s brain and combined them with holographic projections to create "Eternal Ashley," a virtual star set to debut that night at the stadium.
Hearing the truth, Rachel felt helpless—who would believe a doll? But the doll offered a sliver of hope: Ashley kept a digital diary documenting everything. If they could access her computer, the doll could download the evidence via Bluetooth.
Though reluctant, Jack couldn’t bear Rachel’s pleading eyes. She drove them to Ashley’s mansion. With the doll guiding them, they found the estate easily, but the secure gate was a challenge. When Catherine’s car left for the event, Jack seized the moment and sped through before the gate closed.
A guard was watching the house. Jack put on her father’s work uniform and claimed they had a pest control appointment. Skeptical but worried about rats, the guard let them in. While Jack distracted him with made-up safety regulations, Rachel followed the doll’s directions to Ashley’s bedroom among dozens of rooms.
Ashley lay unconscious surrounded by life support systems. The doll wrapped its cord around itself and yanked the plug—Ashley wouldn’t want to live like this. There was no evidence; this was its true purpose. But the unexpected happened: freed from the drugs, Ashley woke up, though restrained to the bed.
When Dr. Monk received the system alert, he called the guard. Jack quickly stunned the guard with the rat zapper. Before they could free Ashley, Dr. Monk rushed back. Hiding behind a sofa, they watched him prepare to inject a sedative into Ashley. Jack sneaked up and hit him with a metal tray, but it wasn’t enough—he choked her until Rachel grabbed the syringe and stabbed him in the back, knocking him out.
They freed Ashley, grabbed the doll, and escaped. Determined to stop Catherine, Jack drove the mouse-eared van recklessly toward the stadium, police cars in pursuit. Rachel never imagined she’d crash into a live event with her idol. In front of the entire audience, a weak but defiant Ashley stepped out of the van and raised her middle finger at her aunt on stage.