[5] Yukito Kunisaki (Hikaru Midorikawa), a traveling puppeteer with a goal to find the "girl in the sky" that been passed down his family for generations, arrives in a sea-side town of Kami in the hopes of earning money at the upcoming summer festival.

As the two become closer, the story of Kannabi no Mikoto, or Kanna for short begins to unfold, telling how Kanna, the last of the winged beings, fell in love with her guardian Ryūya (Nobutoshi Canna) while being sequestered in a palace under penalty of death if she attempted to leave.

The two eventually become lovers, Kanna reveals her desire to see the ocean and use her wings to fly to her mother, whom she was separated from at birth.

In a flashback, Kanna is seen with similar symptoms and tells Ryūya that the reason for her illness is punishment because she has fallen in love with him, which goes against the laws of her kind.

Misuzu herself recalls her past life as Kanna and her fateful escape from her confinement, remembering that both Ryūya and her mother died soon after she took flight; the former by a barrage of arrows in retaliation from the guards and the latter by leaving her prison to see her daughter after hearing her voice calling.

As the film concludes, Yukito arrives at the temple and confesses his love for Misuzu, and after reuniting with Haruko, the trio returns to the Kamio residence.

A short time later, Haruko and Yukito decide to send Misuzu to a hospital to treat her, cutting her hair before she leaves and taking her to the ocean as per her request.

[8] Theron Martin of Anime News Network described the film as a "more narrowly-focused love story" compared to the "emotional, familial-oriented moefest of the original series.

"[10] Chris Beveridge of Mania wrote, "If you're not interested in a TV series, the film really captures much of the same material in a compact way without losing the real emotions.