Teddy Gatz is looking for an organizing principle. The lead character in Yorgos Lanthimos' latest movie Bugonia (played by Jesse Plemons) lives in his childhood home, empty except for his disabled and easily manipulated cousin Don (Aidan Delbis) and a few beehives in the garden, and he works an unfulfilling job in a local pharmaceutical packing warehouse. It's in his free time that he strives to find purpose, researching an alien race called the Andromedans who he believes are responsible for species decline on Earth – first, the bees, and, ultimately, humanity.
Years of planning have all been leading to the main event, which kicks off the movie: the kidnapping of Auxolith CEO Michelle Fuller (Emma Stone), four days before the lunar eclipse, when Teddy believes she will be able to contact her Andromedan mothership. After that, he's certain that she'll be able to get him an audience with the Andromedan emperor to negotiate a deal between the aliens and humanity and save the planet.
