Young Sylvia is content with her move to the farm with her grandmother away from the busy town life. She is returning home with her cow, dawdling and enjoying the natural environment when a whistle disturbs her peace. Sylvia is surprised, then wary, when a stranger approaches. He is lost, and asks if Sylvia knows where he can get food and shelter. With trepidation, she takes the suspected ‘enemy’ to her grandmother, who welcomes him and makes him comfortable. Impressed at the neat home and excellent food, he reveals he is keen to track down a white heron. He traps and shoots birds to collect them, which is at odds with Sylvia’s love of the birds and animals around her. After the gift of a knife and the offer of money, Sylvia is driven to search for the heron’s location to pass on to the hunter. However, after climbing the great pine tree that takes her close to the birds, Sylvia is compelled to keep the secret of the heron’s whereabouts so the hunter’s collection remains incomplete.