On a sun-dappled morning in a Brazilian rainforest, a logging crew comes under siege from a family of enormous, shape-shifting mutants known as the “Brazilian Cocorada.” The film then relocates to a quiet, affluent suburb in Ohio, where the Applegate family moves into a neat, middle-class neighborhood. The family is led by Jane Applegate (Stockard Channing) and Dick Applegate (Ed Begley Jr.), whose visible happiness masks a far stranger agenda. Dick has taken a job at a nearby nuclear power plant, and beneath the surface he is quietly plotting a radical act: a nuclear event designed to wipe out humanity so the bugs can inhabit a world free from human interference. This mission, dressed as the American dream, becomes the axis around which the entire story revolves.
As the Applegates settle into suburbia, the camera and the audience learn that appearances can be deceiving. What seems like a flawless family life—Dick’s steadfast leadership, Jane’s warmth as a mother to Johnny and Sally, and the comfortable rhythms of daily life—begins to fray at the edges. The outward calm is constantly punctured by small, unsettling reveals: Johnny Johnny Applegate starts as a straight-A student, only to drift toward heavy metal and experimentation with marijuana, while Sally, the quintessential all-American daughter, is not what she seems either. Both children are not just growing up; they are transforming, and in ways that terrify the adults around them. When Johnny’s curiosity about his own nature leads him to reveal his true bug form during a moment of panic, he cocooned his friends to protect them, a stark illustration of the Applegates’ dual existence. Sally’s own moments of truth arrive under even more shocking circumstances—she reveals her true form after a complicated interlude with boyfriend Vince, causing the room to tilt as the family’s mission edges closer to collapse.
The adult world begins to implode as Dick’s secret life at work collides with domestic strain. His affair with a coworker brings harassment and discipline, culminating in Dick and his lover becoming targets of termination and blackmail. In a desperate move, he cocoons his lover and hides the evidence away in the basement, a deed that demonstrates the fragility of the family’s careful disguise. Jane’s problems compound when the credit card company closes in on her mounting debt; in a moment of panic, she cocoons the two debt-collectors, attempting to shield the family from financial ruin. The situation spirals further when Jane, pressed by debt and a sense of desperation, tries to rob a local convenience store but is caught by the sheriff. In a frenzy of fear, she cocoons the sheriff and brings him back to the house, where the others discover the dramatic conversion of their world from private to perilous.
The story then intensifies as Sally, confronted with her sexuality and a broader sense of identity, confronts a system and a life that has never quite fit her. What begins as a personal struggle becomes a public catastrophe when a journalist and photographer arrive at the house to document what they think is the most normal American family. The discovery of Sally’s pregnancy triggers a grim twist: she gives birth to an enormous insect egg, which rolls toward the journalist during the confrontation. In a moment of raw disgust and fear, the journalist stomps on the egg, killing it, and the family quickly cocoon themselves again, retreating behind the safety of their hidden lives.
Into this maelstrom arrives Aunt Bea Dabney Coleman, the elder family member charged with steering the Applegates back toward their mission. Bea’s presence signals a return to the “original plan,” but the children and the parents have already begun to feel something unexpected: affection for the human world and a growing attachment to the life they’ve built in the suburbs. The tension between duty and desire comes to a head as the family members start to redefine what it means to belong to a community that has embraced them—despite their otherness. Dick, in a pivotal moment of resolve, steps in to prevent Bea from completing the nuclear escalation that would annihilate the human population and thereby end the very existence of the world they inhabit. The clash culminates in Dick’s act of killing Bea, a shocking but decisive moment that preserves the town and the human lives around them.
With their cover blown and the moral center of the family shifting, the Applegates choose to abandon their siege on humanity and instead return to their life in Brazil. The people of the town, who had begun to see them as a quirky but ultimately harmless family, now remain changed by the encounter. The nuclear plan is thwarted, but not without consequence: the plant’s operation has released enough radiation to alter the hair of many residents, leaving a lasting dermatological trace of the episode. A deleted scene added at the end reveals that Aunt Bea survives the turmoil and still harbors the intent to destroy the world—an uneasy postscript that hints at a darker future, even as the family’s trajectory shifts toward a more ambiguous peace.
Overall, the film weaves a satirical, pulp-infused portrait of suburban life that blends science-fiction shock with intimate family dynamics. It threads the tension between belonging and alienness, exploring how people—human and otherwise—navigate secrets, desire, fear, and the lure of a life that feels almost too perfect to be real. The Applegates’ journey culminates in a paradox: by choosing to protect the world they’ve grown to love, they acknowledge that the real danger may lie not in the external threat of annihilation, but in the internal resistance to change and the stubborn pull of what “home” truly means.
Note on cast references used in this summary:
- Jane Applegate
- Dick Applegate
- Johnny Applegate
- Sally Applegate
- Vince Sampson
- Sheriff Heidegger
- Aunt Bea
- The narrative briefly centers on the family’s relationship to their neighbors, the community, and the broader world, with these key figures anchoring the plot and its twists.
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