Estelle and her daughter, Barbie, are leaving Houston to go to a ranch in central Texas where they have two horses. The father doesn't come and is otherwise negligent towards the two of them, aside from the wealth he provides them with. Estelle begins the trip thinking it will be a pleasant getaway, relaxing in a river and shopping occasionally. Things take a turn when Barbie is petting her horse, which then turns and bites her arm. When Estelle takes her to the doctor, they don't see troubling signs, so they bandage and disinfect it and send them on their way. The next day, however, Estelle finds the horse dead, prompting her anxieties about possible ailments that the horse might've passed on to Barbie. She returns to the doctor, asking him what he should do, but he sarcastically replies that he is not a vet and that the best thing for her to do is to cut its head off and send it to a laboratory to be inspected. When Estelle asks if he could cut the head off for her, he tells her to ask the vet. The vet is busy with a pregnant pig, and everyone else nearby whom Estelle inquires responds that they will not do it, nor do they know anyone who would, forcing her to do it herself. Estelle takes a knife out to the pasture where the horse lies dead, vultures perched nearby. She throws up after her futile attempts with the knife, which fails once it reaches the cartilage and vertebrae. She thinks about leaving her daughter and husband, and how she wouldn't be tasked with this if she left. But instead, she retrieves an axe from a shed and begins hacking away at the head with all her strength, invigorated by her determination to be done with it. Once she's finished, she goes on hacking at the ground and then throws the axe at the nearby vultures. She plops the head in a box and begins travelling to San Antonio, where the laboratory is located, no longer interested in the shopping trip that she originally thought would be a fair reward for completing the odious task.