The story is about an aliens that live quietly on the ocean floor until they are compelled to destroy humanity after their eco-system is disrupted by pollution. Scientists race to stave off an apocalypse. The book was a huge bestseller in Germany and other European countries. While the likes of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth trying to stir concerns about the environment, The Swarm becomes the latest in a growing number of films based on the philosophy that there will be payback for mankind's abuses of the planet.