Research scientist, Annemarie, who works at Drexton-Drake Inc., global leader in the manufacturing of biopharmaceuticals, falls victim to the side effects of one of their own drugs, a sleep aid. While sleepwalking and talking, she agrees to drop off the grid and accept a job working for a conservation group on the Island of Grand Cayman. Annemarie's new boss, Oliver, is a vigilante bent on revenge against Drexton-Drake where they both had worked. Oliver plans to right the wrongs of scientist, Mark Adler, who had falsified data to push a dangerous drug through to become a billion-dollar blockbuster. The side effects of the drug include death. Annemarie realizes she made a life altering decision under the influence of one of the drugs she helped develop. In doing so, she and her friends become trapped like cocoons on Grand Cayman.

Annemarie's metamorphosis from a modest research scientist to a reluctant industrial spy is told in the four stages of the life cycle of a butterfly.