Bethany is a nurse at a hospital in a town called Tanner Falls. There is a man who is in the hospital who has died multiple times in the last month, but the hospital staff is desperate to keep him alive. The man, named Beasley, is the last of the city fathers from a generation before. The fathers had done something to make it so that the town never changed. Children are a rarity, because birth rates are so low. Bethany remembers that the town used to be a great place to grow up, but nothing about it has changed since she was young. There is a racist and offensive sign in the town, but every time it is painted over it is the same again in the morning.

Bethany takes a walk with her husband Matt. They walk to the falls, where there are massive hoof prints that have been there for the past twenty-two years. The legends from that night in 1969 say that the town had been lit with a flash of light, and then the wind had picked up. Then, a churning cloud over the trees had been spotted, with vast legs coming out of it. The creature is called "The Black Goat of the Woods with A Thousand Young." Matt asks Bethany if Beasley or any of the other fathers said anything about if the Black Goat will come back, or what will happen. Bethany says that they have all been in denial, even as they died. Word of Beasley's condition spreads throughout the town, and everyone starts panicking. Bethany's neighbors leave in their car in the morning, but she knows they will be back, because any attempt at escape from the town is not successful. That night, Bethany sets up watch on her porch with a first aid kit. In the middle of the night, the streetlights start to flicker. Then, she sees massive shadow creatures who flicker in and out. They shove something through a pair of second-story windows and disappear. These are just some of the "thousand young." Bethany goes over to the Henderson's house, and finds them lying in the glass shards of the windows. The town continues to panic because Beasley is dying, and accident rates spike. People try to commit suicide, but it never works. One girl hangs herself all night, and her neck is stretched in the morning. The town votes to decide if Beasley should be killed, so they can have control over their doomed fate. Bethany talks to Beasley when he is conscious for once, and tells him that she understands that he and the other men were scared at how the world was changing. Women were moving away from household duties, and black people were getting rights. She asks how they could go from being bigoted cowards to sacrificing the lives of everyone just to keep the town the same. Beasley tells her that they never thought the Black Goat would answer. The town votes in favor of killing Beasley, and decides to let people participate. People get in line to slice him and remove his eyes and other body parts. In the town square, people sob and laugh. Even after Beasley is dead, they continue to maim his body. About an hour after he is pronounced dead, the sky flashes with light and the wind kicks up. They see the Black Goat approaching in the distance. People shriek all over the town. The Black Goat moves through the hospital, and blood appears in the sky above it. As it approaches the town square, Bethany's husband Matt wonders if the Goat has just been toying with them this whole time. They hold hands as the Goat approaches, and Bethany thinks that it is finally time to leave home.