Mike Kingsley (Greg Rowe), a sheltered young boy, lives in a remote coastal region of Australia with his reclusive fisherman father, Tom (Peter Cummins). When a group of hunters kills a majestic pelican and orphans its young on the beach, Mike convinces his father to let him raise the chicks to adulthood. Soon after, Mike befriends Fingerbone Bill (David Gulpilil), a wise and mysterious Aboriginal Australian who dubs the young bird-lover "Storm Boy" and offers him a few life lessons.