Arcadia

David Kline, a resident of the idyllic community of Arcadia Falls, annoyed by the huge number of rules that his house must comply with, receives a parcel with a wind toy. Klein, despite his wife's protest, puts the toy on the roof of the house to spite the neighbors. That same night, a monster comes to the Clines' house and kills them both.

A few months later, Mulder and Scully, under the assumed names Rob and Laura Petrie, arrive in the community as buyers of the Klein house. Agents are perplexed to see how the neighbors are nice, friendly and helpful, but at the same time remind newcomers of numerous prohibitions (for example, neighbor Vin Schroeder nervously drags Mulder's portable basketball ring into the garage, saying that these rings are prohibited by the community code of rules). Upon entering (the time of entry is also strictly regulated), the agents begin to search the house, and Mulder finds a blood-like substance on the blades of the ceiling fan. At a dinner at the house of the chairman of the community, Gene Gogolak, the neighbors of the agents share their impressions of the new residents. According to the results of the conversation, Gogolak tells Schroeder that Mike, a resident of the village, is a "weak link" and needs to be dealt with. That same night, Mike sees that his lantern in the yard is not lit. Trying to replace a light bulb, Mike is attacked by a monster and disappears without a trace. The next evening, after dinner at the Shredders, Scully accidentally finds Mike's chain in the sewer.

The next morning, Scully takes the stain from the fan to the lab, and Mulder tests the theory that violators of the rules of the community are at risk. To do this, the agent sticks a garish figure of a pink flamingo in the yard, and then spoils the mailbox. When Mulder is distracted from tracking these objects, someone imperceptibly brings the yard in line with the rules and leaves a note in the mailbox "be like everyone else... until dark." In the evening, Mulder pulls a basketball hoop out of the garage. When the nervous Shredder tries to remove the ring, the monster appears next to the Shredder's wife on the porch of their house. Mulder scares the monster away, and all three of them see that the Shredders' lantern is not lit, like Mike's earlier.

Gogolak announces to Schroeder that "Pitri is a real problem." Mulder decides to dig up the yard in search of the bodies of the Clines, disguising these actions as the construction of a meditation pool. He manages to find only a wind toy, on which the logo of Gogolak's company is found. The monster comes to the Petrie house when Scully is there. At the cost of her life, she is saved by a wounded Mike, who has been hiding in the sewer all this time. Mulder, in a conversation with Gogolak, says that the murders are committed by a tulpa generated by the consciousness of a rules-obsessed chairman. Having handcuffed Gogolak to the mailbox, Mulder goes in search of Scully. At this moment, the creature attacks the Gogolak unwittingly violating the rules of the community, and after his death, it collapses and crumbles.