This is the story of a Kite, hand reared in secret by a young boy, Taylor, after an egg-hunting mission goes wrong and the mother bird abandons her nest. Not everyone wants to protect the Kite - Taylor's gamekeeper father and his employer see kites as predators on their pheasants, as vermin to be destroyed. The story reaches a dramatic climax as Tom, Taylor's father, knows he will lose his job and his home, if he fails to carry out his boss' wishes and kill the bird. He does intervene and stophis boss shooting the bird he has already cruelly injured. Tom regains his son's respect but the Kite will never fly again.