Most of the story is told from the perspective of Jodie, the daughter and victim who is 8 years old when her part of the narrative begins in 1971. A prologue, dated 14 years before, describes the rape of her mother Joanna, the abuse Joanna and her mother experience from her father, and her mother's murder of her father. Jodie, her brother Bobby, and her mother all experience repeated and extreme abuse from Bob, Joanna's husband and the father of Jodie and Bobby. Jodie becomes pregnant as a result of the incest and has an abortion. Bob forces Bobby to have sexual intercourse with his sister. Bob also holds his sister-in-law, Cathy, secretly captive and sexually abuses her as well. The attempt by Joanna and the children to leave Bob is unsuccessful. In the concluding scene, Bob shoots and kills Joanna and Bobby shoots and kills Bob.