While hunting in the woods, a Maori boy is kidnapped by a grotesque winged creature - the Birdwoman. In her cave he finds his tribe's missing Maori (a talisman that protects them from evil). Brave Hatupatu resolves to make good his escape and to return it to its rightful place. This plasticine animation film re-creates one of the best-known legends about the boy who was to become the greatest of New Zealand's Maori Chiefs. Hatupatu's Rock still stands near Lake Taupo in the North Island.