Emergence is the story of six women and a young girl who go on an overnight cave trip into Dragons Den, a Virginia cave full of delicate formations, sinuous underground passages, and a 100-foot waterfall to a lower-level stream passage. Danielle and Nicole are the trip leaders. Accompanying them are Sydney, who is also an experienced caver, three who are going caving for the first Gabby, photographer; Lynne, mother of three; Melissa, nature lover; and finally Kate, Danielle's daughter, a veteran caver eight years old. After they drop the waterfall pit, three young men enter the cave and accidentally cause a rockslide that traps the women in the lower level of the cave. This fast-moving story is about their struggle to escape the cave and find themselves.