Hardy Johns, beloved small town veterinarian turned vigilante, follows an animal killer with the intention of ending his days, when the killer drops dead, leaving a black plastic bag containing a dead child instead of the expected town pet, and it throws Hardy for a loop. Already under suspicion for his activities and not wanting to become involved, Hardy calls his friend and sometime conspirator, Detective Mitch Downey, to the scene, and Mitch finds only the dead man and an empty bag, and Hardy believes he might be losing his mind. Estelle, Hardy's wife, is befriended by a star-faced doe, who persists on leading her through the woods to Estelle's old house, which she has rented to Handyman Jack, the Ripper. Mystified by the creature's actions, Hardy and Estelle decide the doe is a messenger attempting to communicate---but what? Mitch is constantly harrassed by Marge Maguire, who replaced him as sheriff of Coombsville, and he makes a pact with Jack to do away with her in exchange for Mitch's silence. Jack has murdered several of the locals for no reason other than rage, and Mitch has figured this out.