Malcolm works as a country vet, so when he gets a call from a farmer about his newborn calf, he assumes it'll be just another day's work. However, when Malcolm arrives, he discovers the cow dead - cooked from the inside - and a monster sitting in the corner. The newborn calf is actually a barghest, a kind of folkloric monster that occasionally terrorizes the area. Malcolm tries to leave, only to find his client as barricaded him in the barn with it - as a sacrifice to the creature's appetite. He desperately tries to remember everything he knows about barghests from tall tales and barroom songs. He digs a trench, allowing water to flow between them, preventing the barghest from reaching him. Next, he turns to face the wall, because he knows a man's heart will move out of his chest if he looks too long at the barghest. Whispers assail him, trying to convince him to turn, but Malcolm holds his ground. At last, he collapses to the ground and falls asleep. When he wakes, the barghest has vanished, as has the farmer.