Diego Mariano (Ku Aquino) is the caretaker of the land surrounding a sanctuary; he is the father of 14-year-old Maya (Mary Joy Apostol), whose mother died from childbirth. Maya wants to explore the land beyond the family's isolated shack. Diego wants his daughter to be self-sufficient, so he teaches her to fire a gun. After failing her first shooting lessons, Maya wanders off to the forest sanctuary with her father's dual barrel shotgun and deliberately kills a Philippine eagle, an endangered animal.