It’s summertime in California’s Central Valley and a county fair is underway. A kooky new attraction is at hand. A carnival amusement from another world has snuck into a corner of the midway. A lionlike carnival barker draws forth huge crowds for the new amusement. Inside the cavernous tent, a manlike beast locked in a cage asks the paying customers a chilling question that pries open their souls.

Eleven-year-old Cheri Mullen, despite her trepidation, casts fate to the winds and answers the beast’s outrageous question. This begins a night of deviltry and terror, as this is no ordinary carnival amusement and this is no ordinary beast. The beast escapes his cage and begins a murderous romp through the night, guiding Cheri and other intrepid souls on a quest to wake the sleeping masses from their own enslavement.