Is there such a thing as an antisocial butterfly? If there were, Greta Oto would know about it - and totally relate. An entomologist, she far prefers the company of bugs to humans, and that's okay - people don't seem to like her all that much anyway, with the exception of her twin brother, Danny. But they've recently had a falling out, so when she lands a research gig in the rain forest, she leaves it all behind.

But then Greta learns that Danny has suffered an aneurysm and is hospitalized, so she abandons her research and hurries home to be there for him. But there's only so much she can do, and unfortunately just like insects, humans don't stay cooped up in their hives either - they buzz about and...socialize. Coming home means confronting all that she left behind, including her lousy soon-to-be sister-in-law, her estranged mother, and her ex-boyfriend Brandon, who has conveniently found a new non-lab-exclusive partner with shiny hair and perfect teeth who can actually remember the names of people she meets.

Brandon runs the only butterfly conservatory in town, and her dissertation is now in jeopardy. So being back home? It's creating chaos in Greta's perfectly catalogued and compartmentalized world.

The Butterfly Effect is an honest tale of self-discovery about the behavior of bugs (and people), how they can be altered by high-pressure climates and confused by breakdowns in communication, and, most importantly, how they can rehabilitate themselves and each other.