The author uses a first-person narrative form. His hero, thirty-year-old lieutenant Thomas Glan, recalls the events that happened two years ago, in 1855. The letter sent by mail was the impetus - two green bird feathers lay in an empty envelope. Glan decides for his own pleasure and just to pass the time to write about what he happened to experience. Then, for about a year, he spent in the very north of Norway, in Nordland.

Glan lives in a forest gatehouse with his hunting dog Aesop. It seems to him that only here, far from the city rush alien to him, in the midst of complete loneliness, watching the unhurried life of nature, admiring the colors of the forest and the sea, feeling their smells and sounds, he is truly free and happy.

Once he waits for rain in a boat shed, where a local rich merchant Mack and his daughter Edward and a doctor from a neighboring parish also take refuge from the rain. A random episode leaves almost no trace in Glan's soul.

Meeting a mail steamer on the pier, he draws attention to a pretty young girl Eve, whom she takes for the daughter of a rural blacksmith.

Glan obtains food by hunting, going to the mountains, takes cheese from reindeer herders. Admiring the majestic beauty of nature, he feels himself an inseparable part of it, he eschews the society of people, reflecting on the futility of their thoughts and deeds. Amid the riot of spring, he experiences a strange, disturbing feeling that sweetly disturbs and intoxicates the soul.

Visitors to Glan are visited by Edward and the doctor. The girl is delighted with the way the hunter arranged his life, but it would still be better if he began to dine in their house. The doctor examines the hunting equipment and notices the figure of Pan on the powder flask, men talk for a long time about the god of forests and fields, full of passionate love.

Glan realized that he was seriously carried away by Edward, he was looking for a new meeting with her, and therefore went to Mack's house. There he spends the most boring evening in the company of guests of the owner, engaged in a card game, and Edward does not pay attention to him at all. Returning to the gatehouse, he notes with surprise that Mack sneaks into the blacksmith’s house at night. And Glan himself willingly receives the shepherd she met.

Glan explains to Edward that he does not hunt for the sake of murder, but to live. Soon the shooting of birds and animals will be banned, then you have to fish. Glan speaks with such rapture about the life of the forest that it makes an impression on the merchant's daughter; she has not yet heard such unusual speeches.

Edward invites Glan to a picnic and in every way emphasizes his public disposition towards him. Glan feels awkward, trying to smooth out the girl's reckless antics. When the next day, Edward admits that he loves him, he loses his head in happiness.

Love captures them, but the relations of young people are difficult, there is a struggle of pride. Edward is capricious and willful, the strangeness and illogicality of her actions sometimes drives Glan out of himself. Once, as a joke, he gives the girl two green feathers as a keepsake.

Complicated love experiences completely exhaust Glan, and when Eve in love with him comes to his guard, this brings relief to his troubled soul. The girl is simple-hearted and kind-hearted, he feels good and calm with her, he can express her sore to her, even if she is not even able to understand him.

In an extremely agitated state, Glan returns to his gatehouse after a ball arranged by Edward, how many taunts and unpleasant moments he had to endure that evening! And he is furiously jealous of the doctor, a lame opponent has a clear advantage. Glan shoots his leg in frustration.

Doctor Glan, who is treating him, is wondering if he and Edward had a mutual inclination? The doctor clearly sympathizes with Glana. Edward has a strong character and unhappy disposition, he explains, she expects a miracle from love and hopes for the appearance of a fairy-tale prince. Domineering and proud, she is used to dominating in everything, and hobbies in essence do not affect her heart.

Mack brings the guest, the baron, with whom Edward henceforth spends all the time. Glan seeks solace in Eve’s company, he is happy with her, but she does not fill his heart or his soul. Mack learns about their relationship and dreams only of how to get rid of an opponent.

When meeting with Edward, Glan is reserved cold. He decided that he would not let himself be fooled by the willful girl, the dark fisherman. Edward is hurt to learn of Glan's relationship with Eve. She does not miss a chance to sneak up on his account about an affair with another woman’s wife. Glan was unpleasantly surprised to learn about the true state of affairs, he was confident that Eve was the daughter of a blacksmith.

The vengeful Mack sets fire to his gatehouse, and Glan is forced to move into an abandoned fishing hut at the pier. Upon learning of the departure of the baron, he decides to mark this event with a kind of salute. Glan puts the gunpowder under the rock, intending to set fire to the wick and arrange an extraordinary sight at the moment the ship departs. But Mac is aware of his plan. He adjusts so that at the time of the explosion on the shore under the rock is Eve, who dies under a collapse.

Glan arrives at Mac's house to announce his departure. Edward is absolutely calm about his decision. She asks only to leave Aesop in her memory. Glan thinks that she will torment the dog, then caress, then whip. He kills the dog and sends Edward his corpse.

Two years have passed, but it is necessary - nothing has been forgotten, the soul aches, cold and sad, reflects Glan. What if you go away to unwind, to hunt somewhere in Africa or India?

The epilogue to the novel is the novel “Death of Glan”, the events of which date back to 1861. These are notes of a man who was with Glan in India, where they hunted together. It was he, provoked by Glan, who shot him in the face, imagining what happened as an accident. He does not at all repent of his deeds. He hated Glan, who seemed to be looking for doom and got what he wanted.