The narrator, a mountain lion living in a park in Los Angeles, wakes up in a bush. The narrator hears the crack of a whip: A man with a brown hat is swinging a whip at a man and woman. Though the narrator does not eat people, the hunger they feel may change that.

The man without the whip lies down on the ground, asking the man with the whip to hit him in the groin. The woman films it. The narrator does not understand humans, and this sight only deepens that confusion. The narrator looks toward the man with the whip, and sees a vein bulging from his neck. The narrator can smell the man’s blood. The hunger grows, and the narrator smacks their lips. The people hear the sound, but cannot see the narrator, who is camouflaged in the bush.

The man with the whip approaches the bush, getting close enough for the narrator to consider how best to attack him. The narrator thinks of how little food there is, and how long the man with the whip would last. The man with the whip leaves when the others suggest getting food. The narrator goes back to sleep.

When the narrator wakes up again, the final hikers of the day pass by. The narrator overhears two girls, one of whom complains that there is not enough time for her to do everything she wants. The other girl encourages her to get rid of her scarcity mentality. The narrator notices their water bottles and, feeling thirsty, goes to a nearby ravine to lick at puddles. The ravine was once filled with water, but now, in a drought, it is dry.

The narrator considers what the girls said about a scarcity mentality, and believes they have it. The narrator knows they live under the Hollywood sign in “ellay” [LA] and often hears hikers talking about the sign and the view. The narrator does not see what they see, only blurred shapes on the horizon.

When night begins to fall, the narrator leaves the ravine for the small town of four unhoused people. The narrator likes these people more than the hikers, and believes they all share a symbiotic relationship. The people’s trash attracts vermin, and the narrator eats the vermin. Though they often light fires at night, the drought keeps them from doing so, meaning the narrator can approach without fear. The narrator goes to their water pump and drinks from the puddle at its base before finding a bucket of chicken bones the people left out for them.

In the morning, the narrator travels back to their thicket, listening to the early morning hikers. The narrator falls asleep to the sound of a man on the phone, pleading that he can be a good listener. The next night, in the thicket, the narrator feels an earthquake hit. The narrator feels as though they are in water, and cannot stabilize themself. In a panic, the narrator leaves the thicket and finds a woman next to them. She does not see the narrator, talking in a panic on the phone. She rushes away.

The narrator returns to the cave, and is overjoyed to see that the earthquake disturbed the bats that live there. As they fly in a panic, the narrator leaps and grabs them from the air, enjoying a nice dinner. The narrator thinks of what the hikers say about earthquakes, and how it is best to be outside. The narrator is always outside. Despite this, the narrator feels lonely, as though something is missing in their life.

A stream of urine wakes the narrator. A man is peeing into the cave. When the narrator moves, the man sees their eyes, and flees in a panic. The narrator does not chase him, but instead pees over the man’s puddle and thinks of what it might feel like to hunt the man, the smell of the man’s fear lingering. The narrator finds the man’s phone and sees their reflection in it. The narrator pushes the phone toward the base of a nearby sign. The narrator cannot read, but learns what some signs mean by listening to hikers. Most pertain to fire danger.

Outside the cave, the narrator hears a helicopter and looks up. The narrator overhears hikers saying it is a medivac, and the narrator thinks of the injured person and their blood inside the helicopter. They picture blood raining down from the sky. When the narrator is hungry, blood always comes to mind.

The narrator finds a new thicket, and listens to passing hikers talk about their therapists. The narrator believes having a therapist would help them. When the narrator hears one woman complain about her parents, the narrator thinks of their own mother.

Before living in Los Angeles, the narrator lived in the forest with their mother and other mountain lions. Their mother was kind, and ferocious, teaching the narrator how to kill. The narrator’s father, however, always lurked in the distance, hostile. When the narrator grew up, they stayed with their mother instead of venturing off, like the other mountain lions. The father wanted more territory and attacked them, going after the mother first.

One hiker says that the best therapists are in New York and the narrator considers what it might be like to move there. The narrator wants to be in a place where no one will hate them, and thinks New York could be that place.

After the narrator’s father attacked their mother, he chased the narrator away toward Los Angeles and the highway the narrator calls “the long death” (37). The long death has impossibly fast cars going by on it, killing many animals.

The narrator often hears hikers complaining about how no one in Los Angeles has a real job. The narrator thinks of their own skills. The best skill the narrator offers is the ability to kill. As the hikers go by, the narrator sees a girl drop a green piece of paper. The narrator knows they are important, and goes to pick it up and bring it to the town, where they believe the people will make use of it.

It is night when the narrator reaches the town, and stops just outside of it after noticing a barking dog. Behind the dog, the narrator sees coyotes, and sneaks around them. The narrator kills one of the coyotes to send a warning to the others. They bring the coyote to the water pump, eat it, and drift off to sleep, dreaming of the man with the whip’s neck and its veins.