The novel follows the life story of a honey bee named Nyuki learning about her purpose in the vast world of insects.

She continues to explain the evolution of life on Earth and how insects fulfilled many niches, including the honey bee's role as a pollinator.

Nyuki curiously asks why she has a large abdomen and Hachi explains her role as both "slave and sovereign", where she needs to tirelessly lay eggs and control her workers with pheromones.

Queen Hachi begins the task of sending scouts to find a suitable place for a newly built bee hive.

Now lost from the swarm cluster, she lands on a flower to think but is caught by a camouflaged crab spider named Thom.

On their travel, Sisyphus explains to her how each insect species has their own purpose and lifestyle, such as Nyuki's role as a bee.

Dvorah targets the woodpecker's eye as a weak point and strikes with her stinger but as a result is mortally wounded.

She makes friends with another honey bee named Melissa who becomes more reluctant to letting her continue foraging.

Nyuki frequently gathers the nectar from a flower named Bloomington and tells sedentary jokes to it.

She retells one of Dvorah's "World Flower" stories rewarding bees in the afterlife where they will never need to work ever again and just socialize on its grand stem.