A woman comes back to her home town with her son to live with her brothers ;here she meets again a childhood friend,now the cafe owner.She's attracted by the schoolteacher ,Jean, who is also an ornithologist whose dream is to create a reserve for the birds of the ponds near the village.Alas he comes into conflict with the hunters and even with his new girlfriend's brother,who is a taxidermist(an illegal activity). Jean's teaching will not have been in vain ,though .His pupils react to the events.