Francis Thurston, a Boston resident, finds a mysterious clay bas-relief among the belongings of his great-uncle Professor Angell, widely known as an authority on ancient inscriptions. That queer clay bas-relief seems to be related with a religious sect.
An investigation of the cult members brings to light some clues about the horrific creature they worship, Cthulhu, a being, who supposedly arrived with his followers from the stars millions of years before the appearance of the human being, and who now rests in a deep sleep in R'lyeh, his submerged city.
The Call of Cthulhu is the first story H.P. Lovecraft published about the Cthulhu mythos he created. Its origin comes from a dream that the author had many years before its publication.