"The Half-Skinned Steer" begins with a short summary of Mero Corn's life, from the day he left his family's dilapidated Wyoming ranch to his life as a successful retiree in Massachusetts sixty years later. One morning, he gets a call from his nephew's wife, Louise, who tells Mero that his brother, Rollo, has been clawed to death by an emu. Despite Louise's misgivings, Mero says that he will drive from Massachusetts to the funeral in Wyoming. As Mero packs for the trip, the story reverts to one of the many flashbacks of Mero's life on the ranch. Mero remembers his father, his brother, and his father's girlfriend at the time. Mero imagines the girlfriend as a horse, given her characteristics, which he comments on throughout the story. In his memory, the girlfriend tells a gruesome story about Tin Head, a hapless rancher, and a half-skinned steer...