Content Warning: This section features discussion of child abuse, suicidal ideation, suicide, physical abuse, emotional abuse, and graphic violence.

Doro visits the home of his widow and three-year-old daughter in the city of Forsyth, California. When Rina opens the door, she does not recognize him. He is in a new body: When he speaks, she hears his voice. Doro is over 4,000 years old and can transfer his consciousness from one body to another, a mutation that grants him immortality. He finds others with strange abilities, most often telepaths, and operates a breeding program to cultivate specific powers.

Mary, his daughter, is a result of this program, and Doro has high hopes for her. When Doro finds bruises on Mary’s legs, he angrily confronts Rina, who says that she cannot handle Mary’s telepathic abilities. When she is around Mary, Rina hears voices and experiences headaches. Doro used to kill women like Rina who struggled in his breeding program after bearing children. Now, he offers to move Rina in with a distant relative, Emma, who can help raise Mary.

Doro visits Emma, who is also immortal, though in a different way.