Ten-year-old Robbie finds himself raising a wild mallard duckling that has become separated from her family, and the summer holds one adventure after another. To give Wild One the will to live, Robbie

Ten-year-old Robbie finds himself raising a wild mallard duckling that has become separated from her family, and the summer holds one adventure after another. To give Wild One the will to live, Robbie introduces her to the bright and bold domestic duckling, Peeper.

Taking care of two maturing ducklings proves difficult, both physically and emotionally. Added to Robbie's fears, his granddad—a former duck hunter—moves into the family home for the summer, challenging Robbie's ideas about protection and freedom, intention and foolhardiness, and life and death in the natural world.

By the end of the summer, solitary Robbie has made friends with one of the kids whose families come to the lake each summer, and the two boys take action to save Wild One's pond from destruction. Come autumn, Harold must leave for the city and Wild One must migrate, but Robbie and Peep will be waiting and watching for their return.