 Jim Malden, a Vietnam veteran who has lost wife and child, lives as a recluse on an island full of rare birds. His only contacts with humanity are with Stella Clayton and her young son Adam, who have a small supply store on the mainland. One day, a mountain climber named Mike Walker brings a visit to the island to observe two very rare eagles; what he doesn t tell Malden is that he s hired by an egg collector to steal the eagles  eggs. In the end, after he s succeeded in bringing together Malden and Clayton, Walker gets a chance to lay hands on the eggs. He then decides to leave the eggs in the nest, influenced as he is by Malden.