The lonely, shy and lesbian etymologist Ida Teeter of The McNaughton Museum of Natural History is obsessed by her "pets", actually her collection of insects. She works with her colleague and friend Max, also her advisor in sexual behavior. Ida receives an anonymous package from Brazil with an unclassified insect but the weird bug breaks free from the box. Meanwhile Ida falls in love for the gorgeous Misty Falls, who is bitten and infected by the bug and moves to Ida's apartment. When Ida receives letters from her former Professor Malcolm Wolf explaining how the insect reproduces and transforms the animals he bites, Ida is apprehensive about Misty.