As children, two brothers spent their summers together with two friends at their grandfather’s countryside estate. Years later, they reunite there as adults, following the grandfather’s death—someone must now be chosen to take over as caretaker of the garden. But this time, they are not alone.

In the garden, on the compost heap, lives a worm that must be fed with the emotions of the characters. According to legend, once in every generation, it must also consume a living being. After the winter, the underground creature is hungry again and tries to surface—just as long-buried family secrets do.

The story is further shaped by a narrator who controls the characters’ fates, plays with them, and reveals old grievances and conflicts. Invisible and omniscient, the narrator’s presence is felt by the characters—and by the reader, as the narrator’s interjections are visually distinct. Gradually, however, the characters begin to resist and take control of their own actions.

The younger of the two brothers has opposed the narrator’s influence since childhood and is also the one most determined to inherit the grandfather’s role. But to claim it, he must make a choice: will he sacrifice his girlfriend—his childhood friend—to the worm, or will he defy the fate that has been laid out for him?