After a car accident which claimed the life of her mother, the young, still-shaken Amy (Anna Paquin) moves from New Zealand to Canada to live with her father (Jeff Daniels), who hasn't been a part of her life since she was three. When wandering around her new surroundings and trying to cope with the sudden change, Amy finds a nest of Canadian Geese eggs that was abandoned due to construction in the area. The young goslings imprint on her as their mother, and follow her everywhere. As they grow, the local game warden makes it clear that all parent-less migratory birds must have their wings clipped so they can't fly, and Amy and her father realize they have to help the birds learn to migrate in order to save them. With the help of some ultra-light planes and the birds' natural instinct to follow their "mother", Amy struggles to make it in time to a bird sanctuary in North Carolina.