[3] Aslak is a young boy living with his mother, Astrid, in a hilly sheep farming country adjacent to forested national parkland.
Aslak and his older friend Lasse venture into a farm building and discover the grisly remains of several sheep.
From a hidden spot, they overhear Lasse’s father say to another man that "he is killing just for fun" will hunt the killer to death and claim it was a dog attack.
That evening, Astrid receives a visit from police seeking her eldest son, a destructive addict who had been ejected from the family home many months before.
Panicked, she leaves on an unexplained errand; Aslak, alone in the house all evening, seeks comfort with Rapp, his beloved dog.
After lights out, the boys discuss older brothers and the possible location of the "monster that kills for fun".
As children’s radio programming plays in the background, Aslak sees his mother collapse and runs to hide.
Bloody images of dead sheep hang on the wall of an adjacent office, visible through the door frame close by.
Astrid laments her decision to evict her elder son and blames the police for failing to prevent his crime spree and death: "Just another dead junkie.
However, Rapp has still not returned in the morning, and Astrid is unrousable; Aslak sets off to explore with a small backpack and a jam sandwich.
Screaming foxes make fearsome sounds in the darkness as Aslak crouches under the bole of a tree against an embankment down which rills run.
Later, Aslak watches as Lasse’s father repairs the hole in the fence leading into the forest and as the poisoned bait is distributed.
Aslak, no longer afraid of the woods or the monster— possibly his brother, a werewolf— returns under cover of darkness to gather up the poisoned bait and reopen the fence.