... in which Lucy, a the product of a science experiment with breeding humans and bonobos together, teaches the world what it means to be human.
Lucy opens in the Congo, where primatologist Jenny Lowe is studying bonobos (a cousin of the chimpanzee, and one of humanity's closest relatives). When Jenny is forced to flee from the Congo as the civil war reaches her study site in the jungle, she finds that another primate researcher has been murdered. Her colleague leaves behind a 14-year-old daughter, Lucy, and Jenny feels obligated to take Lucy with her as she flees the country. Jenny takes Lucy to Chicago with her, and when it becomes clear that Lucy has no living family, Jenny adopts her as her own daughter. When reading through Lucy's father's notes, it becomes clear that Lucy is the product of a strange experiment: she is half human, half bonobo. Because Lucy appears to be completely human, and is more intelligent and articulate than most humans, Jenny tries to enroll her in school. As Lucy begins to settle in to her new life, her secret inevitably gets out, and Lucy becomes an overnight celebrity. Lucy's new public presence sparks a debate about what it means to be human, and could threaten her life and the lives of everyone she loves.
