Skari is a troll that guards a "nightmare gate," an entryway under a bridge in northern Alabama through which demons can enter Earth from another world. He has been guarding various such entryways for centuries as a punishment for abandoning a battlefield in fear during a war against demons. He was granted immortality as a consequence of the punishment, but now regrets not having chosen death instead. He makes the acquaintance of a family—Johanna and her two small children, Kenna and Billy—who are living in their car at a nearby rest stop. Johanna explains to him that she lost her job a year ago and that they were recently evicted from their home. They are trying to get to Michigan, where her cousin lives, but they are out of money and are waiting at the rest stop until someone helps them with gas money. While interacting with the family, Skari has to fight his urges to eat the children, as he is hungry. That night, Kenna comes to him with a leftover hamburger that someone gave the family. Skari is overjoyed. Though he worries about leaving his post, in case a demon tries to enter, he feels that he has to help the family out by giving them his only valuable possessions: a gold medallion, silver coins, and a gold ring. Though the demon wars are over, he reflects, human society is still heartless. He wonders what the point of guarding the gate is, when humans are still subject to such evil. Skari leaves his post to give them his valuables, running back to the bridge before they can say anything. The family then comes to him and he regains his human form. They reveal to him that they were testing him for human decency. Though the demon wars have long been over, some of the guardians of the gates have turned bad through their proximity to evil. The family themselves are supernatural beings; Skari is released from his post and punishment.