 The story is of Ezekiel Crumb, scientist and exile. In the laboratory of the Half Moon research facility he searches fruitlessly for a power source among sounds emitted by mushrooms. A dramatic failure leaves his research devastated; the energy produced struggling to solicit a faint glow from a light bulb. His work thus far has resulted only in the exhaustive ruination of strains of fungi. Blackened, burnt and battered mushrooms, meticulously labeled, watch his once intense gaze become diffused. A butterfly flutters through the window, and catches Crumb s eye. The scientist has seen nothing like this before and is mesmerised by the vibrancy and dynamism of this creature. Inspired, he reworks his research and begins again to experiment. Crumb isolates an enormously powerful sound, the bulb throwing intense white like into the darkest corners of the laboratory, leaving him disoriented and half blinded. He is sobered by the tremendous strength of his discovery and takes no joy in the butterfly s frolics. He reasons that is patrons must hear of this. At a later time, skeletal and withdrawn, Crumb witnesses the true potential of his discovery. The films atmosphere is a fantastical evocation of the western world towards the end of world war two and on the cusp of the cold war. It draws upon the starkness of German expressionism to place its narrative in the midst of great and polarised forces. The environment is cold and sterile and yet on the brink of decay.