A man who is not of this Earth (Paul Birch) has adopted the name "Mr. Johnson" for moving among the populace of Los Angeles. The alien has a sensitivity to high-decibel sounds and is conspicuous only for his stilted and formal syntax and his sunglasses, which he wears even in the dark. The sunglasses hide his blank, white-eyed stare which kills his victims by burning through their eyes and into their brains. He removes the blood of his first victim (a teenage girl who has just been dropped off by her boyfriend) using a system of tubes and canisters that he keeps in an aluminum attaché case.