Ben and his brothers are cursed to become swans when they are very young. Their sister takes a vow of silence and sews a shirt for each of her brothers in order to change them back. She does not finish Ben's shirt, so when he turns back into a human, a wing remains. He is ridiculed by other children at school and people on the street. He lives alone in a church where he takes care of other birds.

A carnival comes to town, and one of the women working in it tells Ben to visit her that night, since he is a "curiosity" she might want to show off. When he gets there, she tries to tie him up. He pushes her away with his wing and escapes. Ben thinks back to others that hurt him: his brothers, who plucked his entire wing in search of human flesh underneath and left him to bleed out in the forest.

Later, a stranger comes to Ben's church. Ben realizes the stranger can use magic and asks him to be turned back. He wakes up as a human, but what he really wanted was to be a swan.