The narrator, Tom Tom, and his friend, Bob, work for a mystic named Turner. Tom Tom was picked up as a child by Turner and is mute, while Bob is a Vietnamese man with dwarfism. The two collect animals such as snakes for Turner to use in her mystic business.
When they return home and find Turner murdered, they seek out revenge. Tom Tom undergoes a ritual with the Crocodile Woman, Turner's old friend and fellow mystic. By eating a python's heart, Tom Tom learns in a vision that Turner was unintentionally killed by three people who were high.