Kendall, an egret hunter, sells their plumes to tourists at an eastern Florida coastal resort.
Later, on the edge of the Everglades, Steward, a game warden, witnesses Kendall buying cartridges for his gun at a general store and warns him about unlawfully killing egrets. At that moment, Eva Livingstone enters the store, and Steward goes silent in her beautiful presence. However, her interest is in Kendall and, ignoring the warden, she watches the plume hunter leave. The next day, Steward goes to pay Eva a visit, and as he approaches her gate, Kendall is leaving. Steward admonishes Eva for choosing a plume hunter over himself and asks if she knows exactly what a plume hunter does. She gently brushes him off. Later, Kendall paddles his canoe past alligators and water moccasins to an everglades rookery, where egrets are nesting. As one beautiful egret returns to feed her babies, Kendall shoots her out of the air.
       Jim Brisco, a local gossip, sees Eva visiting Kendall's shack and watches as the two embrace as Kendall returns with his latest plunder. Jim goes to the store, sees Steward brooding alone, and recounts what he saw at Kendall's shack. Steward becomes inflamed, gathers the local loafers at the store, and appoints one of them as his deputy. Meanwhile, at Kendall's shack, Eva pleads with him to give up the illicit hunting. When he refuses, she turns away sorrowfully, and suddenly he realizes he must change or lose her. He yields, opens his gun, and throws out the last cartridge. They embrace. At that moment, they hear someone coming, and Kendall tells Eva to hide. Steward, his deputy, and Brisco arrive at the door, and the warden demands that Kendall turn over his plumes. When Kendall grabs his empty gun, intending to intimidate Steward, the deputy shoots him. Screaming, Eva comes outside and kneels beside Kendall. Briscoe picks up the gun and sees that it wasn't loaded. Kendall tries to stagger to his feet, but falls back dead. As Eva weeps over his body, Steward and his deputy stand with bowed heads.