A man observes his friend Charles, the son of a clergyman, as he goes on an anti-Christian rant; those close to Charles are used to him targeting different groups of people with his prejudice. The friend is invited to go with Charles to visit an attorney. Charles asks the attorney some bizarre questions and then tells his friend that he intends to acquire some lions and execute a Christian, just as the Romans once did. He believes that it will be alright so long as the Christian who dies is a "bad one."

Charles writes to the prison and asks if he can use someone on death row, but his request is declined. The friend travels with Charles to New York. They visit an animal trainer who keeps a lioness in a cage; the men take her for their project. Charles insists that they must find a Christian man because he believes that Christian women are too emotionally fragile to be martyred. The two recruit a homeless man and give him five hundred dollars in exchange for agreeing to die as a martyr. Charles tells the friend to find a nightgown, which the man will wear as he dies. They starve the lion so that it will be hungry; eventually, however, they cave and give her coffee and steak. The lion will not eat it because she does not like meat. The friend is overjoyed because it means they can call the spectacle off.

The homeless man's wife comes to observe the rehearsals for the event and is deeply upset at what she sees. She and the homeless man leave together. The lioness is returned to the animal keeper. Charle's friend tells her that Charles should write a book about his prejudice instead.

On the drive home, they hear church bells, and Charles pulls the car over. He claims he wants to run inside the church; he asks his friend to close the doors behind him. The friend tells him he will be arrested and pulls a note from the homeless man out of his pocket. The man had intended to send it to his wife.

The two leave the church and notice Henry Adams' house. They reflect upon the irony of ending up near a church on Sunday.