In 200 BC, a nomadic group of shepherds, in search of new pastures, leaves the mountains to settle close to a fishing village. The women of the village hide and the only ones to venture out are Arta, a fisherman's wife, and a twelve-year-old girl, Chloe.
Skymnos, a young shepherd, approaches Chloe who walks semi-naked around the rocks and the beach. Among the two children begins a tantalising game; as a sign of his affection, Skymnos catches a pelican for Chloe and mounts it on a gantry. Meanwhile, Arta initially rejects the older shepherd Tsakalos, but finally succumbs and the couple meet in a cave where Skymnos and Chloe watch them make love through a crack in the rock.
When the shepherds decide to leave, Arta leaves with them, accompanying Tsakalos, but Skymnos refuses to go. Lykas, a mute teenage shepherd, finds Chloe and rapes her. At first Chloe struggles, but then apparently gives in to the sensations her first sexual experience is exposing her to. When Skymnos witnesses this scene, he unties the dead pelican, throws its corpse into the sea and allows himself to be swept away.
