In rural southern Georgia, a periodical cicada brood returns after 13 years underground, and with their deafening scream comes the Cicada Song, a competition hosted in the gated, wealthy enclave of Lake Clearwater to find the best musician in the state. For Neera Singh, this competition is a lifeline, a way to save her family's future from the financial debt they've been battling since her uncle Ajay's death three years ago. Winning could ensure the survival of their motel ? their home and their livelihood.
When Dawson Sumter, a guest at the motel, disappears, Neera is drawn into an amateur investigation with Isaiah Johnson ? her estranged childhood friend and the son of a prominent judge. They start to suspect the town's wealth, their family's debts, and the strange disappearances are entwined with supernatural forces rooted in a creepy local legend.
Teaming up with two other local teens?Sam, the daughter of the motel's loathsome handyman, and Reid, the son of the wealthiest man in town?they set out to figure out how deep the rot of this town goes, and to find a way to escape its reach. The call of this summer's brood of cicadas is growing...and beneath their deafening scream, something awakens, ready for its next meal.