In the small town of Dundas, Indiana, genetic researcher Ken Horvath is working in his lab at night. He moves over to a glass case holding eight very large Yellow jacket wasps. He sprays them with a greenish solution and sets his timer. The wasps die in record time.

Later that night, the dead Yellow jackets begin to stir a limb twitches, a body moves. Two of them are still alive and escape from the glass case! The halls are quiet, dark and empty except for one. Roy Peltor, the night janitor, hears the buzzing sound coming closer and is suddenly attacked. He falls to the ground – dead.

Next day the towns annual Barbecue Cook-Off will be televised by Gourmet TV, bringing much needed business and publicity. Meanwhile, Roys body is taken to the morgue for an autopsy. When the coroner hears a strange buzzing sound coming from inside Roys mouth, he opens his jaw and a wasp flies out attacking and killing him.

With two deaths, Cristina, an entomologist from the University, suspects that something is horribly wrong as she takes blood samples from both dead bodies. She and Ken discover that the experimental pesticide causes a deadly mutation in the wasps. Now they desperately have to find the single remaining wasp to stave off the destruction their town and far beyond.