Philip Jeffries is a soldier invalided out of the Crimean War. With a wound that will not heal, he believes he has no chance of a future. Then he meets the old 'Gramfer, ' who has a beautiful garden and keeps budgerigars. Alfred is the leading budgie, and Philip comes to stay with the ‘Gramfer,’ because the little bird is friendly with him Philip's recovery is aided by a young doctor, who encourages him to take daily dips in the sea. He also meets a nurse who had attended him in the hospital at Scutari. Once more believing that he has a future ahead of him, he realizes that his love for her was not a part of his fever, but a true feeling. Finding that she is the daughter of a titled lady, he thinks he has no chance of winning her. But he has reckoned without the help of the ‘Urchin,’ a child from the local Orphanage, and Alfred.
