A brief introduction to beetles, discussing their characteristics, habitat, life cycle, and predators.

Marvin the beetle tries to reassure his human boy, James, who is worried about his father's upcoming wedding and the changes it will bring.

"It is 1950. London is still reeling from World War II, and Margery Benson--a sensible schoolmarm and lonely spinster--is just trying to get through life. But one day, she reaches her breaking point, abandoning her job and her tidy, circumscribed life, to set out on an expedition to the other side of the world in search of an insect that may or may not exist: the golden beetle of New Caledonia, Margery's childhood obsession ever since her father gave...

After Marvin, a beetle, makes a miniature drawing as an eleventh birthday gift for James, a human with whom he shares a house, the two new friends work together to help recover a Durer drawing stolen from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Illustrations and rhyming text reveal the great variety of beetles and their swirling, humming, crashing activities.