A young boy and his grandfather, while on a bird-banding trip in a marsh, discover a young, blind pelican. They bring the bird home, and the boy learns to care for it, hand-feeding it fish and even bringing it to school when there is no one else at home to care for it. Then, one day, the boy sees a newspaper article about a surgeon who has cured a man of blindness after a head injury. Could the doctor help the pelican as well? The boy decides to bring the bird to the city to find out.