A hapless country doctor recounts with breathless urgency a nighttime summons to attend a young patient. Soon, the event takes on a surreal tone as “unearthly horses” transport him instantaneously to the bedside. Preoccupied with personal distractions and resentments toward those he is employed to care for, the doctor fails to discover the vile, fatal wound that is eventually revealed. Humiliated by villagers who “always expect the impossible from the doctor,” he is doomed to an endless return trip and loses everything.