Kodiak Island, Alaska, Fifth graders Emily and David have become best friends. Emily, born on Kodiak, is a Native American. David's family has recently come from Detroit to the purity of the Alaskan wilderness, fleeing the pollution they believed caused David's leukemia which is now in remission. Emily wants to be a marine wildlife biologist and is a hands-on animal lover. David is a student of books and birdwatcher. He wants to be an ornithologist. Together they explore Kodiak beaches and find a dead eagle which they bring to school for an autopsy in science class. Later they discover an occupied cliff-site eagle's nest.

With cliff-climbing bravery and a hope that the parent eagles will accept them if they remain calm and courteous, Emily and David visit the nest. When Emily's mother, a scientist, makes a business trip to Valdez, Emily accompanies her. They are caught in rough weather that later puts an oil tanker off course and onto the reefs. It spills 138,000 barrels of oil into the sea. As part of the Coast Guard scout team, Emily becomes aware that an entire generation of fish will be lost, that the fishing industry is in peril and that nature's food chain is now poisoned. Who is to blame? The oil company? The consumers who buy oil for traveling, heating, and cooking? One solution seems to be to develop solar energy while conserving what we currently use. As the oil slick spreads, Emily's grandmother is evacuated to Kodiak. She tells Emily the lore of creation and the place of the eagle as the soul of man.

Grandmother is sensitive to all animals and intuitively knowns the nature of David's illness. Not until he collapses does Emily realize that he really is sick. She gives him awishing stone and a "secret" eagle feather to take with him to the hospital. Emily resolves to bring "their" eagles untainted salmon from the cannery--even if she has to steal it--until the eaglets leave the nest and the pare.