During one of these fights, Cox attempts to fly back to his family, but as they pursue him, he lands in a crevice and loses a wing.

Unable to fly or locate his family, Cox takes shelter in a tin which is part of an abandoned picnic.

A foraging patrol of black ants finds the picnic and begins to carry the tin with Cox still inside.

Eventually, they arrive at the territory, where Mandible invites him to join the colony and they present the sugar cubes to their queen.

Along the way, he saves his lover, who has reached independence and has left her family, from Toofette's gang, who are killed after a chase ends in them being hit by a car.

The explosions start a wildfire in the forest, which drives the red ant colony away, with Butor swearing revenge.

A fire and rescue plane patrol arrives and extinguishes the wildfire, saving Cox and the black ant colony but flattening the nest in the process.

In the aftermath, the colony begins rebuilding, while Cox returns to the meadow to raise his new family with his partner.