Following some sightings in Wisconsin, Loengard and Sayers question dairy farmer Kester Boehm about the strange lights he's been seeing and the unusual deaths of some of his herd. Finding one of his cows implanted with a trio of triangular nodules, they head to the University of Wisconsin to see Mark Waring, a veterinary school graduate student familiar with Boehm's problem. Though already warned by Majestic against discussing the case, Waring is persuaded to talk and reveals that the implants found in Boehm's cow were not unique.

Following a message from his congressional colleague Mark Simonson, John and Kim are drawn to Meridian, Mississippi, where the struggle for voting rights is clouded by the disappearance of three civil rights workers. As Kim senses the Hive's presence in the town, news that Loengard is in Mississippi prompts Bach to act. Then, after being contacted by Etta Mae Tillman, John and Kim are led to where Simonson is hiding after escaping the deadly fate of his three missing civil rights co-workers.