The woman gets a text from her friend. She thinks about how she met her friend right after graduating from college, when she worked at a magazine and her friend was working at a photo production house; together, they worked on assignments and became best friends for the next two decades. In the text conversation now, the friend asks the woman to come to a hospital in Seoul—not her house in Jeju.

At the hospital, the woman checks in, thinking that some accident has happened to her friend, as she knows her friend has worked in her personal shed as a carpenter for many years now. In her friend’s hospital bed, the friend finds out that she accidentally sliced part of her fingers off with an electric saw, and a neighbor luckily found her unconscious in time to take her to the hospital. While she talks, a nurse tends to her wounds, and a storm rages outside. The friend asks the woman for a favor.

The woman flies to Jeju and gets on a bus, all the while the storm continues to rage. She thinks about how, after getting off of the bus at a village stop, she has to walk half an hour to get to her friend’s house. She thinks about the favor being asked of her: to give her friend’s bird water in time, or else the bird will die of thirst. While she takes the bus, she thinks about her past travels with her friend back when they started to get to know each other, how her friend taught her how to speak like the folks in Jeju do.

The woman gets off of the bus, and the storm is stronger than ever. The streets are empty, and no one is outside with her. She tries to ask a stranger in a shop for help, but he closes up the shop before she can. She then stumbles upon a bus stop, where an old lady is standing. She thinks about how her friend’s mother suffered from memory loss. Meanwhile, the bus doesn’t seem to come. She has to change her plans, perhaps give up. Before she leaves, however, she tries to talk to the old lady. They talk briefly before the bus finally comes.

The bus, late, allows the two on. The woman talks to the driver about her destination, but he doesn’t know where to drop her off at. She simply says she’ll get off when she knows the time is right. Dusk falls, and the old lady gets off, which for some reason worries the woman. The woman then gets off of the bus again, which makes her feel regret, as the storm has only worsened. She keeps walking through the tumultuous snow and loses her phone. She falls and blacks out, and when she wakes up, she’s freezing cold. She wonders about the bird. She struggles to fully wake up, and when she gets up, she sees her friend’s house in the distance. She makes it to her friend’s workshop, where the light is on and her friend’s blood is still on the ground. She heads then heads inside her friend’s house and finds the birdcage. The bird is dead.