Thanks to our favorite science fiction franchises we most frequently imagine alien intelligence to be humanoid, or at least an animal capable of communicating in some way. What humans find on the planet they call Pax is such a different life form that neither side truly understands what they are dealing with, and how they will both forever be altered by the relationship. To the colonists who fled a dying Earth with the idealistic intention to adapt themselves to their new environment, rather than the opposite, their new home looks like paradise. Pax has a breathable atmosphere, plenty of water, only slightly higher gravity than Earth norm, and abundant flora and fauna. Too late one of the colonists realizes that to the "plants" on this new world humans will only be tolerated based on what they can offer, and that they need to choose their new allies carefully if they wish to survive. Semiosis is a long tale of how each generation changes as they adapt to Pax and their evolving relationship with the photosynthesizing sentience known as Stevland.