REVEREND SAM: THE TECHNOLOGY OF SALVATION. This is the promise of Sam, brainchild of George Henderson. George, a religious speechwriter with little faith in anything except his own cynicism, is facing pecuniary ruin due to his association with evangelical libertines. He divines an absurdity of an idea: a robot preacher who would be faultless. All that would have to be supplied would be prerecorded sermons written by George, for a nominal fee, of course.

With the support of his financier cousin, Eric, and the animatronics genius of Louis O'Cain, George sets his plan in motion. Sam's...