It doesn't appear in only one place. Not only in West VIrginia at Point Pleasant and not only in northern Illinois where a young man is carried several yards by a hawk-like creature. He is also seen near Atlanta where a colleague of cryptozoolist and investigator Nick Sterns is driven off into a ravine at night. Because of concerns by a former school buddy Corey Braedon in Warrick, Illinois, where the flying creature, also called a kaiju, has been spotted near the Mississippi River, Nick takes a flight back to his former hometown.

In Warrick, he learns about the disappearance of two young people — one who is later found in shock — and meets other local residents, some of whom have spotted the kaiju on the shore of the river, on the farm of Cooter Lewis, on the roof of the closed movie theatre owned by Corey's father, and at night when a confrontation takes place between Cooter and the jealous husband of Selena Herrmann.

The problem is trying to figure out whether or not they are in danger from this kaiju creature or are being warned about unusual occurrences, such as the appearance of Nick's Japanese therapist in Atlanta who materializes inside the Warrick movie theatre.