Ten-year old Emil leaves the countryside where he grew up and moves to town with his mother.

At the same time a Pelican lands on a sandy beach, not far from the town, and finds some clothes. He puts them on and takes his first steps as a human. He hitches a ride and discovers the town. He moves into a flat in the same block where Emil lives. Unknown to the Pelican, the landlady is allergic to birds.

While Emil adapts to his new life in the city, the Pelicanman learns how to behave like a human. He gets a job backstage at the opera house and falls in love with a swan-like ballerina. No one sees that he is just a bird dressed up as a man. Except Emil, who immediately recognises that the Pelicanman is a bird.

Emil and the Pelicanman become good friends. The truth about the Pelicanman’s identity remains a secret between them. One day, Elsa turns up; a pretty girl the same age as Emil. At first, Emil is jealous of her interest in the Pelicanman, but the two children soon become good friends.

Emil teaches the Pelicanman to read and helps him learn about the strange ways of humans. But then the landlady begins to get suspicious. The habits of the new tenant seem a little bit too strange.

When Emil leaves town to visit his father in the country, the Landlady becomes convinced that there is something very peculiar indeed about the Pelicanman…