In Fall 1986, shortly after the horrors of the Letter House, Eden Falls is plagued by its annual lovebug swarm.

But this year, something is terrifyingly different. Katie's mom, a scientist with a past at Fort Savannah, becomes irrationally paranoid, sealing the house and warning of contamination. As the insects exhibit unnatural intelligence, moving in patterns and reacting to technology, Katie and her friends discover they are linked to Project THRENODY, a defunct Fort Savannah initiative involving neurological bonding and memory dispersal through modified bugs.

Now, these swarms are not just remembering, but mimicking voices, even that of the deceased citizens of Eden Falls.

The bugs aren't just a nuisance; they are a mobile, collective memory, threatening to replay suppressed traumas and expose the terrifying truth of Katie's family's past within the pervasive, living ink of The Ochre.