Roz, Brightbill, and Chitchat explore the island on sunny summer days. If they encounter bears, they flee without being noticed. On rainy days, the trio stays in the Nest and Brightbill and Chitchat play with acorns.

On clear nights, they look at the night sky. Roz explains stars, planets, and the universe. None of them truly understand the universe, including Roz. On rainy evenings, Roz and Brightbill curl up and Roz tells stories till Brightbill falls asleep.

One hot day, Roz watches Brightbill swim. Some other goslings tease him and Brightbill storms out of the pond, refusing to tell Roz what is wrong. Roz follows him home and Brightbill says that the goslings called Roz a monster and laughed at Brightbill for having a monster mother.

Brightbill says that he knows that Roz is a robot, but he does not understand what a robot is. Roz explains that she is a machine and was built, not born, though she does not remember anything before she woke up on the island.

Brightbill realizes that Roz is not his “real” mother. Roz explains that there are many kinds of mothers and that though she tries to act like his mother, she is not his birth mother.