Zoltán, the eight year-old hero, is taken by his mother to his grandparents. It is 1955 and the boy's father is in prison and in order to help, the mother's parents agree to bring up their grandson. Zoltan's life changes totally: new surroundings, new experiences, new friends. One day after visiting his father in prison and as a result of its effects on him, he sets out with his grandfather's gun, and his inseparable four-legged friend, the dog Kajla, to free his father. He gets lost in the marsh and catches pneumonia. In his nightmares he plans out his life: he saves an injured stork, he talks to the animals. While the boy fights his illness, the grandfather really finds an injured stork and they cure it together.