Jim Malden (Rutger Hauer), a Vietnam veteran who has lost his wife and child, lives as a recluse on an island full of rare birds. His only contacts with humanity are with Stella Clayton (Kathleen Turner) and her young son Adam (Andy Fenwick), who have a small supply store on the mainland. One day, a mountain climber named Mike Walker (Powers Boothe) brings a visit to the island to observe two rare eagles. What he doesn't tell Jim is that he's hired by an egg collector to steal the eagles' eggs. In the end, after he's succeeded in bringing together Jim and Stella, Mike gets a chance to lay hands on the eggs. He then decides to leave the eggs in the nest, influenced as he is by Jim.