An unnamed US soldier is on a several-month-long surveying expedition with a group of others in the Arctic. One day, a group of them see a snow owl flying overhead. The narrator admires it for its power and grace. Ezell, one of the other soldiers, fires his rifle at it but misses. The other soldiers, except for the narrator, get out their guns and shoot too. On his second shot, Ezell hits the owl, and it falls to the ground. They approach and Ezell hits it with a stick, but he doesn't kill it. The narrator advises him to kill the owl now to put it out of its misery, but Ezell disagrees. He carries it back to the camp instead. The other soldiers think that Ezell's strange behavior is due to their isolation. Later, the group of soldiers go to the mess hut and the narrator talks to the cook. The cook says that the owl was not looking good but Ezell asked for an old crate to make a cage for the owl, which he put in the store room. Not seeing Ezell around, the narrator went to the storeroom to look at the owl. It was still bleeding and cowering in the corner of the cage. Filled with rage, the narrator went to his bunk and got a rifle, then went to go kill the owl once and for all. However, right before he pulled the trigger, Ezell saw him and stopped him. The narrator went back to the cook, who advised him to forget about the owl, since they would be together for two months yet, and upsetting Ezell would make that time miserable. The cook suggests that they go hunting to get a change of scenery. The next day, the narrator and the cook go out hunting. On their way past the storeroom, they see Ezell struggling to feed the owl, which the narrator thinks is ironic since. As the narrator and the cook walk into the snowy wilderness, the narrator tries but is unable to forget about his problems of the wounded owl and the isolation of the area, the nearby mountains forming a gray wall that traps them. He sees some holes in the ice up ahead where a river trickles and decides to go check it out. As he peers down, he thinks it's like looking into the heart of the wilderness. In that moment, he feels impelled to act on the owl. He tells the cook that he feels cold and wants to go back to the base, then hurries back, leaving the cook to catch up. When he gets back, the narrator goes to the storeroom with a rifle. Seeing the owl again, he considers that maybe the owl could still survive, so he puts the gun down. He picks up the cage and tries to break it. From a distance, Ezell sees him and begins running towards him. But the narrator is faster: he busts open the cage and sets the owl free. As it flies off into the wilderness, he thinks that the surrounding mountains aren't so gray, but rather a many shades of blue.