A doctor talks with a woman about a sonogram -- the woman is pregnant and the sonogram has revealed an abnormality in the baby's skull and neck. Back home that evening, the couple, Wayne and Laura Wineside, prepare for bed. Wayne gives his wife a glass of warm milk and a herbal pill to help her sleep. Laura dreams that a demon, surrounded by flames, approaches the bed and takes the baby from inside her. She wakes and Wayne finds blood - the baby really is gone.

Deputy Stevens, from the Hollins, Virginia, sheriff's office tells agent Spender about the case. Laura is his sister. After Stevens leaves, Spender shreds the case report, but Mulder shows up in Hollins with the case report taped back together. After interviewing Laura and Wayne, Mulder telephones Scully who is doing background checks on candidates for federal jobs. He thinks it is a classic case of demon baby harvest that was often reported during the middle ages and asks Scully to review Laura's medical records. Wayne overhears the cell-phone conversation on the baby monitor radio in the nursery. That night, Laura sees Wayne outside burning something. He tells her it is leaves, but we see him remove a bundle from the ground and burn it.

In the morning, Scully reports to Mulder that Laura has mandrake in her system, sometimes used to induce abortion, and thinks that may be the real reason behind the disappearance of the baby. Wayne drives up to a different house and talks with Betsy. It is clear that they are married and Betsy is pregnant. Wayne says he is just returning from a business trip. Meanwhile, police are at Laura's home, based on Scully's suspicions. Wayne arrives and gives them permission to search the premises, and they find the bones of a baby in the fire ashes outside. Wayne privately tells Laura that he found her in a trance last night, holding the baby and chanting that it was evil. Laura is arrested but Mulder tells Wayne "I know what you are." Mulder begins following Wayne, who has to fake a business appointment -- he takes blood for medical tests for an insurance company. He comments to the women he is testing that she doesn't know how lucky she is to have three normal children.

Wayne visits Laura in jail. She doesn't think his story makes sense. As they hug, Wayne opens his mouth and life force flows out of her mouth into his. He claims she collapsed in his arms and paramedics are quickly called. They manage to restart her heart and take her to the hospital. Wayne goes to Betsy's. He has missed her sonogram. The doctor found an abnormal growth on the baby's skull and neck. Getting ready for bed, Wayne gives Betsy a glass of warm milk. As she falls asleep she sees a demon, surrounded by flames, at the foot of her bed, but she grabs for it and it is Wayne. Meanwhile, Scully arrives in Roanoke and tells Mulder there is no medical reason for Laura to fall into a coma as she did. Mulder has been in the county records and has found that Wayne has twice been tried for murder and has several identities. He is a Czech national who came to this country. Mulder finds another address for Wayne and as he and Scully go there, they meet Betsy driving Wayne's car. She is bloody and repeating "he took my baby." Arriving at Betsy's with police backup, they find Wayne in the back yard, digging. He says "a normal life and family is all I ever wanted." He begins to say "Betsy isn't like Laura, Betsy is..." but Deputy Stevens shoots Wayne.

At the hospital, Wayne is placed near Laura. He opens his mouth and life force flows out of him and into Laura. She wakes up and Wayne dies. Meanwhile, at Betsy's home, the bodies of four more babys have been found, buried in the yard. All are normal, but the baby Wayne supposedly took is not there. Mulder's theory is that Wayne was some sort of demon, really looking for a normal life, but all of his babies were demons. Betsy, though, was apparently even more evil, and Wayne gave her a real demon child. We see Betsy driving Wayne's red sportscar. Her baby is on the seat beside her, and the hands showing from underneath the covers appear to be those of a demon. Betsy's eyes are red.