In a lush forest, a flock of plain brown birds fills the world with beautiful songs every morning. When Orono, a jealous traveling sorcerer, offers to trade their voices for dazzling rainbow feathers, the birds are tempted by beauty and make a choice they soon regret. Though their feathers become magnificent, the forest falls silent, and the birds discover that their true gift was never their appearance, but the music that made them special. As Orono learns the pain his jealousy has caused, he must decide whether to keep the stolen songs or return what was never truly his.