Henry is a fanatically religious man who believes that people are vile and base, and that sex—even marital sex—is repulsive and sinful.

One day a traveling salesman by the name of Jimmy Connors shows up at the farm, telling them that his car broke down.

Connors is held captive for over twenty years, and eventually the constant abuse, the grotesque food, and the horror of his situation drive him to become more beast than man.

One night when Eli is at work Carolyn ventures outside and is knocked unconscious by the creature, which was hunting for food and became frightened at her approach.

As he begins to grow, his parents discover that when night falls a strange transformation overcomes him, as if his entire personality has changed.

Eli boards up his windows to prevent him from escaping at night, and soon thereafter Michael's "spells" seem to relent...until he hits puberty, at least.

As it turns out, her house used to be the home of Henry Scruggs, and from the moment he steps in the door the beast within him (which consists of the emotions, senses, and savage hungers of the creature that was his biological father) springs to the surface and he is left violently insane.

Instead of confining him in a mental institution, his parents decide to keep him in the house's cellar, hoping for the day that he might recover.

"[4] However, the Johnson City Press said that in the ending, "Levy seems to have mixed his manifestations at the last minute, from the near plausible to the impossible, leaving the reader feeling slightly misled.