When winter comes too early one year, hundreds of little birds are caught in the snow and ice. Katrusya can't bear to see the delicate creatures suffer, so she begs her family and neighbors to help her save them. Soon everyone in the village is out gathering up the birds and bringing them back to town, where the birds fill their cottages, their church, but, most of all, their hearts. Toward the end of winter, the birds begin behaving strangely, chirping wildly and flinging themselves against the glass windowpanes. The villagers release the birds, and within minutes they are gone. Katrusya is heartbroken. But that Easter, Katrusya discovers something hidden in the grass - beautifully decorated eggs unlike she has ever seen - pysanky, the most beautiful Easter eggs of all.