Plamen's parents are separated. His father is an old river wolf, his mother a nurse in the big city. The boy's longing for his father keeps him going. His studies don't go well. One day Plamen sneaks onto his father's barge and secretly sets sail with him. On this long and very interesting voyage, Plamen befriends his father, and when they have to return to Varna, the boy is happy: he hopes that all three of them will be together again.

The beginning of the 18th century. Bulgaria is under the Ottoman bondage. The monks of the Monastery of Hilendar on Mount Athos warn the young monk Paisiy to beware of the "pestilent chapel". On his deathbed, the abbot conjures Paisiy to search for Slavonic books. The young monk goes from one monastery to another in search of ancient books. He breaks into the "pestilent chapel" and finds there stacks of old Bulgarian books telling of the wisdom of Bulgarians kings, and of the power and civilization of the Bulgarian Empire and its past glory. His fellow-monks try to burn the books but Paisiy manages to escape. His Slav-Bulgarian History circulates in handwritten copies through the captive country and the Bulgarians becomes truly aware of their national identity.

Adaptation of the book by same title by Peter Stavinski, the film brings out the relations between children and birds in a new and unknown aspect, as a symbol of the purest and most direct expression of harmony.