While working with a rodeo in Gaston, Texas as a medic, David 'Benton' learns that the show's biggest star Jake White is performing with an illness that could cost him his life.

David Banner decides to return home for Thanksgiving. Dr. Helen Banner is shocked to learn that her brother is not dead, but David is unwilling to tell his estranged father, D.W., that he is still alive. Meanwhile, a plague of worms is ruining farmers' crops, enabling a development corporation to take control of his hometown. To combat the plague, David synthesizes a hormone that could make the worms metamorphose into beetles early enough to prevent crop destruction. That night, David is haunted by a nightmare about his mother's death, which he blames on his father. Awakening in an emotional rage, David transforms into the Hulk under the watchful gaze of his astonished sister.