Margery Benson is an unhappy forty-something schoolteacher in post-WWII London. One day, prodded to the breaking point by her students' cruel mockery, she flees the school and turns her attention to a childhood dream: traveling to the tiny tropical island of New Caledonia to find a golden beetle that may or may not exist. Armed with her bag of entomology tools, her determination, and a newly hired assistant—the chatty (and maybe not entirely qualified) Miss Enid Pretty—Margery charts a life-changing journey halfway around the world and discovers something she never expected: friendship.