Bruce Lodge stands outside a house for sale, completing the deal to purchase the place from realtor Johnny Nelson. Lodge tells Nelson that he also works in real estate and Nelson replies in a condescending manner. Lodge's reaction is calm and collected. It unnerves Nelson.
Later, Lodge unpacks. Nothing he has stands out. He fits in. Once he's done, he steps outside and notices the barn. He walks to it and goes inside. He finds that one wall of the barn is covered with household items that could be used as murder weapons. In front of the weapons is a small box. He picks it up and it faintly glows green in his hands briefly. He opens it up and finds the Carnage mask inside. He puts it on. When he wears it, his eyes turn black. He picks a knife from the wall and practices stabbing with it.
The Larson house is modest, but perfectly manicured. Deborah Larson paces as she waits for her husband to come home. She's dressed in an old-fashioned style, her house decor is older, but everything is clean and neat. An alarm goes off in the kitchen. She goes in and pulls a casserole from the oven.
Deborah sets the table for two. It's 5:30 and she's disappointed that her husband isn't home yet. She starts drinking wine. Her deceased mother Janeane's voice starts talking to her. Janeane tells her that drinking alone is a sign of alcoholism and that she knows that her husband is cheating on her.
Jamison calls and she asks when he's going to be home. He says he actually is at the airport and has to go out of town for work. Then he says he was told about it weeks ago. Janeane tells Deborah she knew he was a liar. Over the phone she hears that he's at a bar and questions him. He says it's the airport bar. She doesn't answer and drinks instead. He asks if she's still there, she says she is "for now." He doesn't catch the implication of those words, but Janeane does. They get off the phone and Deborah says she should kill him sometimes. Janeane says maybe she should. Deborah says that he's her husband. Janeane replies that didn't stop her. Deborah takes the casserole back to the kitchen.
Jamison sits at a bar talking to a stranger. He wears a big black cowboy hat. He talks about the Amazon Prime show he stars in, "The Beast Within," an extreme mountain biking show. Jamison introduces himself to the stranger, Steve Overton. They fist bump and lament the steps they had to take during the pandemic. Steve says he didn't wear masks. Jamison says masks aren't his style.
Lodge puts on the Carnage mask and goes into the barn. Muffled sounds are heard from within.
Johnny Nelson is tied up within. He tries to break free, but can't. Carnage removes his gag and Johnny yells for help. Carnage hits him in the face with a punishing blow. While in the Carnage form, he talks in cryptic phrases. Johnny makes a sarcastic remark and Carnage punches him again. Johnny shuts up. Carnage reveals that he's pure evil and murder is a game to him. He unveils the Murder Board, which contains squares where he can track which victims he kills of a list of specific types of people, such as “Straight white man,” “Pregnant woman and baby,” “Bus driver,” “Ship captain,” "Tough Mudder," "Born in Atlanta," etc.
At the top of the Murder Board is a slot for "Current Target." Carnage goes through Johnny's wallet until he finds a picture of Johnny and his wife. He puts the picture in the Current Target slot. Johnny asks if Carnage is going to kill his wife. Carnage says she isn't on the board, so she's safe. But Johnny IS on the board. Johnny frantically scans the board trying to deny he's there.
Carnage stabs him in the face. But it's a glancing blow and only cuts his cheek. Johnny screams. Carnage is disappointed with the knife as a weapon. Carnage stabs him in the shoulder. Still dissatisfied, Carnage switches his grip and stabs Johnny in the chest until he finally stabbing him in the heart. Johnny dies and Carnage adds his blood to the Carnage mask. He throws the knife away and places Johnny's picture on a slot on the Murder Board that says "Asshole."
Deborah paces back and forth, trying to decide something. Janeane tells her to do it, it'll make her feel better. Deborah says it won't. She drinks two double whiskeys. Her mother says "it" is her destiny. Deborah throws the glass into the sink and it shatters.
Flashback to the same house, years ago. Janeane is still alive and the house mostly looks the same. Janeane drinks from the cooking sherry. She carries a birthday cake with one candle into the dining room. The room is very heavily decorated for a birthday party, but no one else is there. Janeane say she's not singing that song and Deborah blows out the candle. Deborah starts eating the cake and soon discovered that she's been drugged by her mother. Her mother puts a box before her and sits down with a box of her own. Janeane takes a bite of the severed human finger inside. She forces Deborah to eat the finger in her box, saying that the hunger is already in her.
Back in the present, Deborah goes into the basement, puts on her apron, and locks the door behind her. She gets something out of a freezer and puts it on a table. She unwraps it and it's a severed human arm. She uses a cleaver to chop off the thumb. She tosses it in a microwave and then cuts off the other fingers. She puts the first severed finger into the same type of box her mom gave her on her 18th birthday. The microwave goes off and Deborah eats the defrosted finger.
At the police station, Capt. Jackie Anderson leads a press conference that congratulates Det. Gregory Carter on his retirement. Carter sits with detectives Jacobs and Bailey. Anderson opens the press conference up to questions and the reporters start asking about the nine missing locals. Anderson walks out of the press conference with a "no comment."
At night, a man named Bobby Lee drives down the road and he runs out of gas near Lodge's house. He gets out and knocks on the door. Lodge opens the door and Bobby asks for assistance. Lodge asks if he's from around here and Bobby says he's just passing through. Lodge gets very friendly and invites Bobby in.
Later, Bobby Lee is tied to the chair in the barn. Carnage tries out a few weapons and settles on a machete. Carnage brings the machete down on Bobby's head, but it barely penetrates his skull and doesn't kill him. Carnage decides to stab Bobby with it, but that doesn't kill him, either. He changes his grip again and brings the machete down on Bobby's neck, finally killing him. Carnage adds Bobby's blood to his mask. He throws the machete away.
Lodge makes dinner with the TV news on. The reporter says that nine people have gone missing locally. Lodge turns off the TV. He says someone has been encroaching on his territory.
Lodge walks to the barn and goes inside. Bobby Lee's car is gone. Inside the barn, Bobby Lee's body has been chopped up and put into trash bags. There are now six photos covering spots on the Murder Board. Lodge puts on the Carnage mask and goes to the wall of weapons. He pulls down a large sledge hammer and it glows a faint green light when he touches it. It seems at home in his hands and he practices with it.
Jamison walks in the front door and Deborah hugs him very hard. He drops a driver's license on the floor. Deborah doesn't see it. Jamison loudly drops his bag on it and hugs Deborah stronger to distract her. He asks her if there is any food and she goes to the kitchen to start a casserole. He picks up the bag and license and yells to her that he's going to put his bag away. He goes into his bedroom and throws the bag on the bed.
He opens a safe in the closet and pulls out a shoe box. He puts the license in the box. It belongs to Steve Overton. He places it in front of dozens of other licenses, the front one belonging to Bob Andrews. He puts them away and joins Deborah in the kitchen.