Episodes 01

“Stung”

In 2016, withdrawn Andrea “Dre” Greene lives with her foster sister Marissa in Houston. While Marissa’s interest in pop star Ni’Jah has waned with age, Dre is as obsessed with her as ever. After an incident at their job, Marissa decides to spend the night with Khalid and reveals her plans to eventually move in with him. Dre tries to stop her by telling her of Khalid’s behavior and attempts at infidelity, which enrages Marissa. Marissa then storms out. When Ni’Jah releases a surprise album, an empowered Dre goes to a club and loses her virginity. She wakes up to find that Marissa has committed suicide following an argument with Khalid, having accused him of cheating, and Ni’Jah’s fans on Twitter claim she did it over the new album. Dre goes to Khalid’s house, and despite his clear display of remorse, impulsively kills him in a psychotic rage.

Episodes 02

“Honey”

Now 2017, Dre works as a stripper in Fayetteville, Tennessee, trying to find Reggie Wilkins, one of the people who tweeted about Marissa and Ni’Jah. A stripper with an abusive boyfriend latches onto Dre, and she kills the boyfriend after witnessing them arguing. The stripper discovers her moving the body and decides to help, but Dre kills her after burying him. A group of strippers ask Dre for a ride to a house call. She gets a flat tire on the way back, but Wilkins, a tow truck driver, runs into them and offers to fix the car at his house. Dre goes back into the house when he finishes and attacks him. He gets the upper hand and starts to strangle her, only for the strippers to come looking for her and kill him. She drives off, leaving them with the body.

Episodes 03

“Taste”

Four months later, Dre is tracking down and killing people who insult Ni’Jah on Twitter. She travels to Los Angeles and stalks her next target, only to notice a man working at the release party of Ni’Jah’s husband’s new album. She follows him home and seduces him, getting him to take her to the party and locking him in a freezer. She infiltrates the party and approaches Ni’Jah, but, overwhelmed, bites her and flees.

Episodes 04

“Running Scared”

Another four months later, Dre is driving to Bonnaroo to see Ni’Jah when she is tailed by a police officer, only to be rescued by a girl at a gas station. The girl leads her to a “female empowerment” group of white women led by Eva, who takes a liking to Dre. She discovers that her bloody car has been cleaned and her phone is missing. Through a series of intense “counseling” sessions with Eva, she reveals her background with Marissa and that she enjoyed committing the murders. She panics during a ritual and tries to leave, but Eva attempts to manipulate and blackmail her into staying. Dre retrieves her phone and runs Eva over, driving away and killing a group member who clung to the top of her car. She makes it to Bonnaroo but finds that it is already over.

Episodes 05

“Girl, Bye”

A month later, Marissa’s phone number is deactivated by her father Harris, leading Dre back to Houston. She runs into her and Marissa’s former boss and fabricates a story about working as Ni’Jah’s mother’s makeup artist. She breaks into Harris’ house and steals his pistol, which she uses to coerce his wife into turning the number back on. Harris, blaming Dre for Marissa’s suicide, tries to shoot her with a shotgun. She flees into Marissa’s old room and freezes when she sees her old shrine for Ni’Jah, before narrowly escaping out the window.

Episodes 06

“Fallin’ Through the Cracks”

The true crime documentary Falling Through the Cracks follows Memphis detective Loretta Greene as she investigates Dre’s murders. She establishes a connection between the victims and their dislike of an immensely popular and influential artist implied to be Beyoncé, tracing it back to Khalid. She finds Dre through Marissa’s Instagram page and visits Marissa’s mother Patricia in Houston, who tells Greene that Dre stabbed one of Marissa’s friends when they were younger, the incident that got her kicked out of the family. Dre’s caseworker refuses to disclose her background to Greene, and accuses the filmmaker of wanting to ignore his own flaws by digging for Dre’s. Greene eventually learns that Dre has been arrested for invading the stage during a Beyoncé concert in Atlanta, and sets out to talk to her. Interview footage of Donald Glover is shown where he claims he is working on a show about Dre. This, along with each character being played by a different actor, suggests that Swarm is a recreation of events implied to have happened in the real world.

Episodes 07

“Only God Makes Happy Endings”

In Atlanta, June 2018, Dre, having ditched her phone and posing as a man named Tony, goes home with a graduate student named Rashida. As the police find her car, she starts a relationship with Rashida despite her strong dislike of Ni’Jah. She eventually meets Rashida’s parents and moves in with her. Dre gets Ni’Jah tickets for their anniversary, leading to an argument that escalates when she strangles Rashida to death. She burns the body, but accidentally leaves the tickets in Rashida’s pocket. She kills a scalper for his ticket and runs onstage, but Ni’Jah, whom Dre envisions as Marissa, stops her security detail from restraining Dre and lets her speak to the crowd. She tells the fans that she loves them and leaves with Ni’Jah, tearfully resting her head on her shoulder as they get in her car.