When nine-year-old Calvin migrates to Petoskey, Michigan in 1876, he meets Little Pigeon and her Ojibwa family. She introduces him to her infirmary for wounded passenger pigeons that have not been able to fly away, and he learns to take care of the birds until they are ready to return to the huge flock the following year. The family is amazed and awed by the millions of birds that darken the sky like a thick cloud and cover the ground with droppings and feathers. Calvin's teenage brother, Eric, is anxious to shoot as many birds as possible, but his father will only allow enough to feed the family. The following year, Uncle Benny arrives on his wagon, and announces that he is waiting for the flock to return, so he can harvest hundreds to sell in Chicago. Eric longs to join his uncle, so he leaves one night with his gun and the two find passage on a ship to seek their fortune. . .