Precisely thirteen years before young Blade Runner K's discovery in Blade Runner 2049 (2017), Niander Wallace, the founder of the replicant manufacturing company, Wallace Corporation, expressed his desire to create a new line of synthetics. With Earth's ecosystem rapidly deteriorating, Niander stresses the importance of cheap labour, making sure to illustrate the fact that the superior Nexus-9 replicants pose no threat to society, created only to serve. Will Wallace's ambitious project get the green light?

In futuristic 2048 Los Angeles, the combat medic Nexus-8 replicant, Sapper Morton, heads to the city centre to sell his high-protein artificial nematodes, one year before the events of Blade Runner 2049 (2017). But there, gentle Morton catches the attention of a sadistic group of thugs who, after trying to assault his homeless friend, Ella, and her mother, lure him into a trap, forcing him to engage in a deadly fight. However, as Sapper flees the scene, someone in the shadows has witnessed everything. Is Morton's future at stake?

Lee Weathers is a "risk-management specialist" for genetic-engineering company SynSect. She arrives at a rural site hosting its L-9 project, an artificial being with nanotechnology-infused synthetic DNA named Morgan. The "hybrid biological organism with the capacity for autonomous decision making and sophisticated emotional responses" is smarter than humans and matures quickly, walking and talking within a month and physically a teenager despite being five years old..