A narrator taking part in an expedition explores a remote peak crowned by a stone effigy and learns of a secret winged people reputed to vanish at will. Defying local warnings, he and a companion ascend and are drawn into the winged community's seasonal migrations and magical practices. The narrative follows their encounters and entanglements, the social and spiritual rituals that govern flight and return, and escalating tensions that force difficult choices, leading to a final communal act that determines the group's fate and completes a cyclical pattern of movement.