The smell of beans brings the Incredible Hulk to a clear in the woods where a group of vagabonds is cooking their dinner. The Hulk bluntly asks them for the beans. Due to poor lighting conditions, they do not realize who they were against, and hit him. When the Hulk easily pushes them away, they escape in horror.
The Hulk devours the pan of beans and feeling sleepy, rests. He wakes up in the morning as Bruce Banner. After finding some clothes, Banner hitchhikes and gets lifted by a young couple who is driving West. They arrive at a small town that is fenced and protected by armed neighbors.
Meanwhile, Doc Samson lands at the New Mexican military complex called Hulkbuster Base under heavy reconstruction work. He's greeted by Thunderbolt Ross, Betty Ross, and S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Clay Quartermain. Samson feels guilty for not defeating the Hulk (in #193). A soldier comes running to inform General Ross of something important they found in the debris.
Bobbie and Carol Hickman, the couple who accepted Banner into their car, explain that Carol's father never accepted their marriage. He has been attacking them, even destroyed Bobbie's farm and two nearby towns. Suddenly, a black cloud approaches the small town fast: It's a billion locust. The farmers can do little against the insects. So Banner decides to help them by willingly triggering the transformation into the Hulk!
As the townspeople believe the Hulk is connected with the insects, Carol's father shows up taking all the credit. "Bug-man" is wearing an outfit that resembles an insect and allows him to fly. He calls himself the Locust.
Locust tries to knock the Hulk out using his Stun-Ray. But the Hulk is too angry to be halted. Locust uses his Magnon-Beam weapon on insect eggs to spawn giant beetles that attack the Hulk. Though strong, the giant bugs are no match for the Hulk. So "Bug-man" generates more giant insects. Carol had run toward the Hulk to convince her father to stop. Now her life is in danger.
Locust tries to save her daughter but fails. Using a pitchfork, Bobbie attacks the giant insects to protect Carol. Locust realizes how wrong he has been in judging Bob a bad choice for his daughter.
The Hulk manages to break free from an insect and slams his fists on the ground, creating a deep fissure that swallows the huge bugs. The Hulk shuts the crack and approaches Locust with his arm in the air, ready to smash him. But Carol begs the Hulk to forgive her father as she embraces him. Hulk scratches his head in misunderstanding ("Girl loves one who tried to destroy her?") and departs.
Later that day, at the Hulksbuster base, Doc Samson, Thunderbolt Ross, and Quartermain speak with the one who was found under the debris (from his confrontation with the Rhino). They order him to do as instructed or else, a bomb they implanted in his brain would be detonated. He is the Abomination, and he accepts to be commanded.