The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Catton, Eleanor. Birnam Wood. Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2023.

In Part 1, Mira, a 29-year-old liberal gardener, researched the perfect property and location for her activist collective, Birnam Wood. Separately, her roommate and best friend, Shelley, reflected on her desire to resign from the guerilla gardening group known as Birnam Wood while recalling the group’s goals: to grow crops through sustainability and repurposing. She recounted that their activities involved planting crops illegally on vacant or abandoned properties.

Tony, Mira’s former love interest, arrived at the door looking for Mira, interrupting Shelley’s thoughts. Shelley decided not to tell Mira about him.

Mira traveled to Owen Darvish's farm (the Thorndike property she had researched earlier) to scout it for Birnam Wood. As she explored it, a man approached her. Mira provided an alias, but the man called her by name. Mira confessed everything immediately. After she left, Mira discovered through an internet search that the man was Robert Lemoine, an American billionaire and the co-founder of the Autonomo drone company. He approached her as she was leaving, said that he was Robert, and since he was buying the property she could stay.

After they met, Lemoine considered the ease with which he rerouted all of Mira’s communication through his own devices so he had access to her information. He recalled his cover story of building a bolthole on the Darvish property as well as his plan for building an illegal mine that extracted rare-earth metals in Korowai National Park. Lemoine decided to invest in Birnam Wood to hide his true intentions.

Later, at Birnam Wood’s membership meeting, Shelley entered to see Tony arguing with the host. Mira arrived, surprised to see Tony, and called the meeting to order. She relayed that Robert Lemoine (who was building a bolthole on the farm) donated $10,000 to Birnam Wood to work on the Darvish property. He would pay them $100,000 upon completion. If he liked their work, he would invest in them. Tony argued with Mira that it was blood money. The caucus voted to approve the deal, causing Tony to leave.

In Part 2, Tony traveled to Korowai National Park to write an exposé about billionaires building boltholes, daydreaming about kissing Rosie Demarney the previous night. When he arrived at the park, he discovered a restricted area. A guard stated that they were conducting a radiometric survey. Tony contacted Owen Darvish to ask questions about the operation. Owen said there were no radiometric surveys on or near his property. Tony also discovered that Owen had not sold the property to Lemoine.

At the Darvish residence, Owen and Jill reviewed their conversation with Tony. Unsettled, Owen went to their farm to investigate.

Meanwhile, Tony learned that New Zealand tried to mine national parks, but public outcry prevented it. He also discovered that Autonomo did a land survey and found nothing, causing Tony to believe it was fake. Tony daydreamed of the fame that he would earn from his story while hiding from Lemoine’s guards.

While Tony was hiding, Lemoine arrived at the farm with LSD tabs, stating that he wanted to enjoy an acid trip with the other members of Birnam Wood who were there. Mira declined. Lemoine stayed with her while the rest of Birnam Wood took LSD. As Mira and Lemoine left for privacy, Mira noticed a car at the front gate just as a van crashed into a tree. Mira and Lemoine investigated, discovering a dead body in the driveway. Shelley, still on LSD, stepped out of the van as Mira recognized the dead body as Owen Darvish.

In Part 3, Jill could not get in touch with Owen. Lemoine called, looking for Owen because they were supposed to meet. He obtained access to Owen’s accounts through Jill. Jill separately reviewed Owen’s emails and discovered that Owen was hiding correspondence about Birnam Wood. Jill realized that Owen would never hide anything from her as Lemoine called again to inform her of Owen’s death.

On the farm, Lemoine orchestrated a cover-up to protect his mining operation. Mira, under duress, helped Lemoine move Owen’s body into an SUV as Lemoine remembered that he faked several emails from Owen to make it look like Owen had been interested in Birnam Wood. Lemoine sent Mira and Shelley to a safe house. He later reviewed his drone footage to find Tony taking photographs of the mining operation with a manual camera, infuriating him.

Tony, who had taken pictures of the environmental devastation surrounding the mine, spotted a drone surveilling him. After a pitstop on his way out of Thorndike, two SUVs cornered him. Tony jumped into a ravine to escape.

Rosie, who had been texting Tony, was worried that she had not heard from him. She obtained Mira’s number and texted her about Tony. Lemoine intercepted the message, upset that he had not realized that Mira and Tony were connected because their link would unravel his work.

Back at the farm, Mira discovered Tony (who was seriously injured) on the property. He disclosed that Lemoine, Darvish, and the government were illegally mining Korowai. Mira left to get help.

Lemoine found Mira and Tony just as Mira returned with supplies. He realized that he could murder everyone in Birnam Wood, frame Tony, and murder him to protect the mine. Lemoine took them to the farmhouse.

After Owen’s funeral, Jill decided to investigate the farm. She heard screaming upon her arrival and noticed that her animal poison was missing. She ran outside and saw Tony tied to Mira’s dead body, which was covered in vomit and tied to a truck. Lemoine observed the rest of the Birnam Wood members, who were dead and covered in vomit. Jill shot him as he turned around. She cut Tony free, but a guard shot her in the back. Tony fled to the mine and threw a lighter into its camouflage netting to expose Lemoine's operation before he died.