Adam knows something is seriously wrong. The lower levels of the city are under water and uninhabitable, the temperature of the air is rising and an unpleasant odour has pervaded every tunnel, vault and chamber and is seeping out to the surface above. But as the youngest and most recently appointed Elder in AntLand, his concerns are being ignored. It is only when the Queen herself charges him with the responsibility of finding a suitable site for a new city-state that he discovers he is not alone in his fears. In giving Adam this undertaking, however, the Queen has made him an enemy of the most powerful ant in the kingdom: AyJay Heartland, the Queen's Senior Advisor and ChairAnt of The Council of Elders, whose desire is to make AntLand 'bigger, better, best'.

Adam sets off on his quest under the cover of darkness, taking with him Zekiel the Wise and a contingent of JourneyAnts. He soon discovers that the perils facing AntLand are more serious than he could ever have imagined.