Nansal (6), the oldest daughter of a Mongolian nomad family finds a small dog one day while out in the fields. When she brings him home, her father is afraid he could bring bad luck and demands that she immediately get rid of him. Despite her father's orders, she keeps the puppy and tries to hide him from her skeptical father. When the family uproots to move to another camp, the father leaves the puppy behind, tied up to a post. Only when the dog proves himself to the father by protecting the family's baby boy from a flock of threatening vultures does the father accept him and welcome him into their family.