The movie depicts the story of a young Mazurian boy named Mietek, who crosses the line between childhood and adulthood . He stands in close contact with nature; he decoys birds and feeds them, he catches fish. But above all he is attracted to the work of the woodcutters. He watches them as they fell the trees and he helps them load the timber onto rafts that float down the river and through the sluice-gates. Finally, he joins the raftsmen and when he receives his first salary and gives a girl his first bashful look, the time has come for him to say goodbye to his childhood.