Maude scoops a jellyfish out of the water and embarks on more than a year of observation of the animal, accomplishing something countless other scientists were unable to do: trace the life cycle of a jellyfish and understand the creature's metamorphosis from larva to adult.

Maude's story must be told. Her painstaking observations of a compass jellyfish in 1899-1900 laid the foundation for research still ongoing today.