In the role of Angela Bettis, Ida Teeter is a shy entomologist whose home bursts with a wide variety of insects. This unusual passion sections off a part of her life from the world outside, and it even pushes her girlfriend away. Ida moves through her days with a quiet, meticulous routine, finding comfort among glass terrariums and the soft, insistent hum of tiny creatures.
Ida is drawn to a new presence, the beautiful and enigmatic Misty Falls, Erin Brown, and a fragile romance begins to bloom. A mysterious package arrives one day, containing a large mantis‑like insect that Ida affectionately names Mick. The arrival unsettles the already delicate balance of Ida’s life, and the situation is complicated by Lana Beasley, the landlady, Marcia Bennett, who worries about Ida’s “pets” and the effect they might have on ten-year-old Betty, who enjoys disguising herself as a ladybug. Ida promises to keep the insects in check, trying to thread the needle between obsession and ordinary living.
That night Mick escapes from its tank and attacks Beasley’s pet dog, devouring the animal and underscoring the danger lurking in Ida’s carefully curated world. The following day, Ida asks Misty out, and Misty agrees to a date. They watch a movie about “Texas Pixies” on Ida’s DVD player, and Misty is introduced to Betty and the apartment, though Ida keeps the bedroom where the insects dwell out of sight. The bond between them deepens, and Misty returns the favor with a kiss, much to Beasley’s dismay.
The morning after, Misty discovers Ida’s secret stash of insects and becomes fascinated by the hidden world. As Misty grows closer to Ida, she begins to experience unsettling urges, and she later encounters the pillow that contains Mick. The insect’s influence becomes personal when Misty senses a disturbing, almost magical link between the creature and her own body. Ida receives a cryptic letter from a mysterious source warning that Mick could be dangerous, deepening the tension and suggesting that the insect’s reach might extend beyond what Ida ever imagined.
Beasley witnesses a power struggle between Ida and Misty, and when Misty pulls Ida into a passionate kiss in front of Beasley and Betty, the landlady gives the couple an ultimatum: one week to move out. Ida’s suspicion about Misty’s behavior grows, and Misty’s mood becomes increasingly erratic and crude. After a night of volatile emotion, Misty recounts a dream in which she was a fairy and Mick forced its proboscis into her body, drawing blood and injecting its fluids—an unsettling glimpse of the insect’s invasive power.
Max Grubb, Jesse Hlubik, calls Ida to explain Mick’s nature and the insect’s horrifying biology: Mick inhabits bird nests and similar environments, acting as a parasite that injects its proboscis to drain blood while infiltrating the host’s reproductive DNA, effectively making the host carry Mick’s young. Ida’s horror deepens as Misty’s condition appears to be tied to the animal-like parasite.
Mick inseminates Misty during another sexual encounter, and Beasley later encounters Misty, who morphs into a disturbing creature with insectoid eyes and multiple tendrils. Beasley, terrified, slips and falls to her death on the stairs. Ida arrives as medics haul away Beasley’s body, with Betty crying nearby. Max comes by for support, but Misty viciously kills him, and Mick races toward Ida, driving its proboscis into her ear to initiate the same insemination process.
As the consequences of Mick’s influence spiral outward, secrets unravel. Misty reveals that her father, Professor Malcolm Wolf, Ida’s former tutor, played a hand in sending Mick to bite Ida—with a plan to drive a wedge between the two women who have fallen in love. Misty herself begins to transform, her appearance shifting toward a bug-human hybrid as her vision blurs into insectoid forms.
With Max dead and the truth laid bare, Mick’s hold intensifies. The creature’s relentless insemination continues, now targeting Ida as well, through the same eerie ear-channel it used on Misty. The two women—their relationship strained to the breaking point—find themselves bound to Mick’s life cycle in a way that cannot be unwound.
Some time later, Ida and Misty sit together with large, rounded pregnant bellies, sharing a dark, intimate joke about their future. Mick’s presence remains intimate and invasive, continuing to inseminate them through their ears, a chilling reminder that the parasite has rewritten their biology and their fate. The story closes on this unsettling image: two women transformed by an insect’s design, navigating a world where love, fear, and metamorphosis are all intertwined in a single, disturbing thread.
