A young girl's grandparents own a grocery store and a slaughterhouse/butchers in one, guarded carefully by a vicious dog named Nero. The young girl is a sickly looking one, often mistaken for a boy. Her Uncle Jurgen, though thin, is an expert at subduing animals to kill them for meat.

The young girl is fascinated by Nero, feeling somewhat sorry for him, but also being awed by his strength and determination to escape the backyard to be with Mitts, the cocker-spaniel owned by Priscilla. Priscilla is the grocery store's bookkeeper, and her father has become a jealous and overprotective man who fights any man who tries to court her, and always wins. One day when Nero escapes, the young girl fills her pockets with gingersnaps and goes to Priscilla's. Nero shows up and pricks up his ears when he hears her call "gingersnaps!" exciting her when he recognizes her. On this visit, the young girl finds out that her Uncle Jurgen is dating Priscilla, and plans to marry her. She doesn't think he'll be any match for her father, though, skinny as he is.

Priscilla and Jurgen put an engagement announcement in the local newspaper, and that is how her father and the grandparents find out. They are all upset that the two didn't tell them personally, and they decide on a time and place for the fight between Jurgen and Priscilla's father to take place. The young girl is allowed to stay and watch—this has been a fight decided upon, to go till submission. In a fight that surprises everyone, Jurgen wins, using his skills and brains as an animal wrestler to bring Mr. Gamrod down.

Jurgen puts up an electric fence around Nero, but Nero manages to pull it down, putting out the power in the whole grocery store, though it nearly kills him. The young girl takes advantage of his weakened state to go stroke his head. After this, she leaves her grandparents' place to go home to her parents and the new baby. When she returns, things have changed. Nero is kept in a cage, and has gone nearly feral. He is not being used anymore, as the grandparents installed an electrical alarm system. He doesn't recognize the young girl anymore, nor does he care for gingersnaps. One day, Jurgen just goes and puts him down, and the young girl helps him bury the dog she was so awed by.