Frankie is just shy of thirty, and he’s spent the last decade working as a deputy under Sheriff Ned Cardew. Frankie’s parents recently died. He inherited their suburban home, but he can’t bring himself to live there. He sleeps in the empty cell at the precinct, and his colleagues are none the wiser. One day, a man reports a severed dog head in a local lake. Ned and Frankie dredge it out. Frankie remarks that it could be hundreds of years old. Later that day, they drive to a desolate trailer park to check on Mary-Grace Hogue. She’s Frankie’s white trash white whale, and he’s been pining for her since high school. He tries to talk to her while Ned snoops around for illicit substances, but she’s reticent. Back at the office, Frankie stores the dog head in the cooled evidence locker. At night, he puts it in the backseat of his squad car and drives aimlessly around town. The following evening, he encounters Mary-Grace in the town square. She can’t sleep, and she wants to escape her sketchy neighborhood. Frankie advises her to get a guard dog. On his way back to the department, he finds a runover fox on the road. He smears its entrails on himself, relishing in the carnal sensation. In the morning, the officers receive word of a shooting in Mary-Grace’s trailer park. Frankie races to the scene, emboldened by the scent of rotting, canine flesh that permeates his car. When he arrives, he realizes that Mary-Grace has been shot. He drags her to the lawn of his parents’ house, where he pulls the bullet out with his teeth and licks the blood from her skin. Days later, Ned visits Frankie’s house because he hasn’t been at work. He’s surprised to find Mary-Grace sitting on the steps. She explains that she lives there now with her guard dog. At her command, Frankie comes out naked, collared, and on all fours, ready to serve his mistress.