The young female protagonist, Sylvia, was living in a large manufacturing town with her parents and siblings; she found that environment dangerous and alienating. At the request of her grandmother, Mrs. Tilley, she has moved at age 8 to live with her on the grandmother’s farm in rural Maine. Sylvia has grown to love farm life, especially her cow Mistress Moolly, and the natural world around her. She is devoted to her grandmother, who has noticed that the wild creatures accept Sylvia as one of them. After doing her chores, Sylvia is free to roam around the woods near the house, where she has become an astute observer of wildlife. It is her knowledge of the titular heron that creates the conflict in the story.