Ornithologist Fernando (Paul Hamy, MY KING) has trekked deep into the Portuguese nature reserve in search of a rare breed of black storks. He is not entirely cut off from civilization as his phone still picks up texts and calls from lover Sergio, but Fernando appears to crave solitude. When his kayak crashes in a strong current, he is rescued by a pair of Chinese missionaries - Fei (Han Wen) and Ling (Chan Suan) - who themselves have wandered far off the route of their pilgrimage following the steps of Saint Anthony of Padua. He shows them where they are on his map, but refuses to help them find their way back on the path even though they are afraid of the demons of the forest. When he expresses his non-belief, they drug his tea and tie him up, eager to play good Samaritan and bring him round to belief (even if they have to castrate him). Fernando manages to escape by night and begins his journey on foot towards civilization only to realize that something unnatural is indeed inhabiting the forest. Encountering such sights as a strange tribe of Mirandese revelers hunting boar, a deaf-mute shepherd named Jesus (Xelo Cagiao), a dove with a broken wing, and topless horseback huntresses (led by EMBODIMENT OF EVIL Juliane Elting), among other things, Fernando nevertheless finds himself turning away from the civilization he is seeking as he nears it. From Joćo Pedro Rodrigues (O FANTASMA) comes THE ORNITHOLOGIST, a loose, episodic, homoerotic allegory on the life of Saint Anthony of Padua that drags for its first half-hour only to start getting under the viewer's skin even as it seems to be making itself up as it goes along. Director Rodrigues himself appears in the last of the film's turns which may exasperate the viewer may find fitting or exasperating.