Far into the future, after humans and thousands of other species have disappeared, highly evolved and enlarged ants and roaches have built new civilizations. Both species are chemically dependent on plastic. Mined from ruins of the extinct Duo Pods, it is the most valuable resource in the insect world. Henry Roach-Dairier is an enigma. The ant side of his family considers his youthful high jinx dangerous and far too roach-like even in the liberal, open-minded views of the colony his grandfather established to bring peace between the two species. Influential roaches consider his ways of Antism, and the fact that he is of mixed variety, dangerous to the power structure that keeps them at the top of the economic mountain. After his own inward struggle in young adulthood, Henry realizes he must be the one to finish what his ancestors began. He chronicles the biographies of his great-grandfather and grandfather to teach his world that if they do not learn to live with and accept each other, they will bring themselves to the same end as the Duo Pods in whose ruins they dig—extinction.