A Black man survives a train crash that he caused, and thinks back on the mysterious stranger who revealed his true heritage to him: he is a shoggoth, a slave of the Elder Things, and in causing the crash he has set himself free.

A Black writer in the 1930s sets out for Durham working on a project about the folklore of ex-slaves. During his work, he comes across the Night Doctors who will take everything he has for him to go free.

On an island off the coast of South Carolina, two men quickly find themselves plagued by a mysterious spirit after one of them steals a flask from an African American man’s grave.

In Iowa, a young Black man goes to a party where he meets a host of artist types who cause him to reflect on how people relate to each other.

A white innkeeper in Denmark has a strange encounter with a large black sailor who asks for a room and the company of a prostitute.

When a young Black woman shows up at her crazy dead aunt's apartment in New York City with her on-again, off-again boyfriend, she finds none of the money she'd been hoping to inherit. Instead, in a hidden treasure chest, they discover a dead body, a shotgun, and a machete, sealed with a tempting offer from the Devil. The couple takes the deal and, hungry for blood, sets off to wreak havoc on the blue suits that have violently policed their communities for so long.

After three years of being attacked with racism and hatred, a Black man decides to put his coworker in his place.

A racist grandfather and his grandson get lost in the Atlanta. The grandfather wants to convince his grandson that Atlanta is bad because of its Black population, but his grandson does not yet understand race.

The racism a Black, working-class couple faces at work during the Harlem Renaissance spills over into their relationship in violent ways.

In discussing the altercations witnessed over the course of the day, Stephen Elwin and his family grapple with question of whether the downtrodden and those burdened by prejudice are nonetheless responsible for their own breeding and behavior. Elwin’s earnest and idealistic daughter Margaret valiantly defends their maid, who happens to be Black and also named Margaret, until she witnesses 'the other Margaret' breaking a piece of artwork.