It is the story of pharmacologist Marina Singh, who journeys to Brazil to bring back information about seemingly miraculous drug research being conducted there by her former teacher, Dr. Annick Swenson.

The letter reports the death of Dr. Anders Eckman, Swenson's colleague at a drug research site in the Amazon rainforest.

Eventually Dr. Swenson surprises Dr. Singh in Manaus, and they travel in a boat piloted by a young deaf boy named Easter to the rainforest research site, near the encampment of an indigenous people called the Lakashi tribe.

The women of this tribe bear children until the end of their lives, an ability they gain from eating the bark of an endemic tree called the martin.

Over time, Dr. Singh discovers that, unknown to Vogel, the bark of the martin also serves as a vaccination against malaria; it is this drug that Dr. Swenson is primarily concerned with.

Writing in the New York Times,[1] Fernanda Eberstadt calls the novel “an engaging, consummately told tale.” In the same newspaper, Janet Maslin’s review praises the novel, writing that “this book’s central issue, its unresolved rivalry…[is] the dragon of a teacher who lurks somewhere in every student’s academic history.” [2] Laura Ciolkowski calls it “a suspenseful jungle adventure with an unexpected ending and other assorted surprises,” but complains about the novel's “tendency to…offer up a curiously clichéd view of life beyond the knowable edges of home.” [3] Susan Storer Clark writes that "Patchett’s gift for combining the mythic with the practical, her ability to create memorable characters and truly ingenious plot twists make State of Wonder a rich and rewarding read.