A twelve-year-old boy named August is tasked by his father to kill a horde of cats in their barn for a dollar per tail. August goes to his grandparents' home down the hill from his family's. His mother is staying at the home and tells August that she's become an inediate— someone who subsists on only air. She tells August that he doesn't have to agree to his father's request. August goes into the barn and bludgeons three cats. The rest are difficult to kill. A live-in helper and farmworker seven years August's senior named Lisa makes tacos for August and his father. August visits the grave of his dog Skyler, who died of poisoning after eating anti-freeze. August thinks of Lisa's blushed skin and remembers that he saw her and his father having sex in their family's grain room. The next morning, the three have breakfast that Lisa makes. August goes off to do his chores and thinks about the progression since Lisa's arrival of his parents' deteriorating marriage. Frustrated about his parents and Lisa, August kills two cats while he cusses. August goes to his grandparents' home, where his mother is staying, and they eat pork chops. August then has dinner with his father and Lisa. That night, he cannot sleep and walks to the barn, where he finds all of the cats are dead — they drank spoiled milk. He nails the cat tails to a board and places them over his father's boots, and then walks to his grandparents' house to see his mother.