One pleasant day in the not-too-distant future, in a public garden north of New York City, Lester Ordway is enjoying the seasonal blossoms, butterflies, and buzzing bees. He notices a strange flying insect unlike any he's ever seen before. It stings him between the eyes, and he is overwhelmed by a tidal wave of memories crashing through his mind, a flood of simultaneous sensations and emotions. As he collapses, he manages to catch and hold onto his strange, small assailant. At the hospital, medical technologist Pilar Ramirez see the creature being pried from Lester Ordway's hand. It releases a swarm of even smaller insects that attack her and several other people in the emergency room before vanishing. Frightened but fascinated, and frustrated by the hospital's attempt to explain away what happened, Pilar befriends Lester and joins his quest for an explanation. Pilar and Lester enlist the help of entomologist Maybelle Terwilliger. The mounting evidence soon forces them to consider a seemingly impossible explanation: a secret alien invasion of Earth. It seems as if they have accidentally uncovered a planetary incursion on a tiny scale but of global scope. The pervasive reconnaissance puts the legendary hundred eyes of Argus to shame: Someone is literally bugging the planet. But why? All they know for sure is that, when the invading force realizes that it has been discovered, its response bears all the earmarks of hostile intent....