Day after day, Moko has been going to the shore and contemplating the rising sun. On one particular morning, he is accompanied by his friend, the village’s “wise man”. He asks his friend what he might find at the end of the world, he would very much like to go there. The old man tells him that he must leave everything behind and find out; he doesn’t know what lies at the end of the world but that he would very much like to. Moko promises to return and share his discoveries and takes off on a raft. Suddenly he is caught up in a terrible storm and he pleads with the Sea Beast to let him through. The tornado swirls around his raft and lifts him high in the sky then drops him back atop the waves, safe and sound. As the storm fades into the distance, Moko thanks the Sea Beast for keeping him safe and is now convinced that he will finally know what lies on the other side of the ocean.

That morning, Moko tells himself that it is time to leave Mei-Li’s land and he gets his raft ready. A man tells him that he must take the route of the great plains to continue his journey. Moko goes to the village to bid farewell to Mei-Li who has made rice cakes for him. One morning a few days after his departure he reaches the famous route where the horizon seems never-ending. As he walks a great gust of wind makes him fall and drop his precious stone. Seeing it on the ground, Moko thinks of Mei-Li and tells himself he must go on for those he has left behind. He goes on while clutching his stone in his hand. Moko’s heart lightens as he thinks that one day his travels will bring him back to those he loves.

Moko and Mei-Li are gathering seashells in between the rocks on the white sand beach to decorate the village’s houses. Moko asks Mei-Li if they can go to other beaches to try to find other shells. Mei-Li likes the idea and goes to ask a fisherman to take them to another beach on his boat. Just beyond the village Moko sees a vast plain that has been flooded with water. He thinks this must have been the great wave, flooding the field with water so that the rice would grow. This is when Mei-Li picks up a magnificent seashell and Moko believes that it must surely be a gift from the ocean. Moko and Mei-Li make their way back home, carrying their gift and happy to have seen wonderful new places. They are certain that the ocean must know an underground passage in which it sends waves every now and then to feed the rivers and the fields.

Intrigued by the name given to the mountains in the horizon, “the Hills of the round Earth”, Moko ventures off to see if the Earth is, in fact, round. An old wise man tells him that yes, if he were to walk in a straight line he could very well go all the way around the earth and come back to his starting point. Moko does as he is told and travels all the way around the Earth and returns back to his village, but since he didn’t have the feeling that he was walking around a sphere, he continues thinking that the Earth is flat.

Moko wonders why the clouds all come and cry on his village at once. Why are they so sad? He asks the old wise man who suggests that he wait until the end of the rainy season to understand. Once the rains have stopped, Moko returns to see the old man. He tells Moko that the answer is in the fields. Moko sees then that the rains have made the crops grow and thinks that the clouds are not crying when it rains, they are offering all of their water to the earth to make it fertile.

Moko believes that there is a creature somewhere whose breath is so strong that it makes the branches of the trees move and the sand dunes shift. He thinks that the clouds run away from the wind out of fear of the creature. He goes off to find this creature. Exhausted by the sun and the heat, it is a soft breeze that eases his rest. He then decides that the creature must in fact be a benevolent one.

With a storm approaching, Moko heads towards a nearby tree to seek shelter. An old man urges him to reconsider and tells him to return to the village, the tree could suddenly burst into flame. On his way back to the village, Moko sees a lightning bolt hit the very same tree, and set it on fire. Frightened, Moko thinks that the old man must be a magician to have predicted such a thing.

On that morning, Moko goes to see he friend the village wise man. The old man has such a beautiful garden filled with so many beautiful flowers that Moko spends the whole day admiring them. The old man gives him a rose, and tells him to take very good care of it. When Moko returns home, he notices that his rose is wilting. He thinks of bringing it to a river, but the rose dries out completely. The old man finds Moko crying, saddened by the loss of his beautiful flower. As the wind gusts around them, the old man tells him to look down at his precious rose. Moko is amazed to discover that his withered rose has become a sand rose. The wise man tells him to guard this secret as if it was a treasure. Moko thinks then that he must also have meant a great deal to the rose, and that the wind consoled his sadness.

During the dry season, the river’s water dries up and what is left turns to mud, making it impossible to swim or to drink. Moko wonders how to find water. An old man carrying a stick tells him he should dig behind some rocks, and there he finds water sprouting from the ground. A hidden spring! Moko is so happy at this discovery, he tells himself that water is so precious that it hides itself in the ground to make sure that there is always some left, even when the river is dry.

On this morning, Moko is rowing relentlessly to bring back the barge as Mei-Li sleeps. Suddenly, he can’t seem to make the oar move at all. He wakes Mei-Li so she can help him row, but it is no use, the barge starts moving in the opposite direction. In the distance they notice a fisherman and try to call out to him, but he is too far and cannot hear them. Beyond a huge boulder they see a forest and start rowing furiously in its direction. Finally ashore, Moko and Mei-Li think that the sea still had another secret in store for them, this new part of Mei-Li’s island.

Moko is woken by the sound of singing coming from the other end of the beach. It is Mei-Li, who wears a hat the shape of a sand dune and whose eyes are the shape of a moon crescent. As they are walking towards Mei-Li’s village, they feel a terrible rumble and see black smoke coming from the mountain. Moko thinks this is his fault, that he has trespassed in the forbidden forest, and wants to apologize. They arrive at the edge of an enormous chasm, a veritable fire pit. To calm the mountain, Moko offers it a beautiful seashell, as Mei-Li’s ancestors did. The mountain’s rumbling stops and Moko is proud to have learned it’s language.

The storm has passed and Moko’s raft is approaching a new shore. He has never seen this white sand beach and wonders where he might be. Moko wanders off to find inhabitants of this new place. Along his route he passes plants with enormous leaves and at the other end of his path, the beach once again! How is this possible? What is the secret of this strange country? Night falls and Moko falls asleep convinced that he is the first traveller to discover the ocean’s secret island.

Moko wonders why it is that the moon changes shape so often. Seeing that it rises sometime like the sun in the distance, he decides to get closer to see if he can get some answers. Better yet, he could even ask the moon directly. During his long walk, he sees the moon change shape over and over. Sometimes a sliver, like a smile, sometimes a circle of white light, sometimes yellow. He sees the moon travel across the sky without ever looking like it is moving. No matter how far he walks, he realizes that he is getting no closer to the moon. He decides that this whole dance is a performance and that the moon just likes to be watched.

Dawn is breaking in the village, Moko and Mei-Li are sound asleep. A rumbling sound suddenly wakes them. They decide to go see what is going on and hide behind a rock to observe. The come across a fisherman who doesn’t seem to be afraid as he embarks for his day of fishing. Mei-Li is so afraid she is shaking and Moko asks her to sing, thinking that might stop the earth’s tremors. As she sings, the ground slowly stops shaking. Moko and Mei-Li head back to the village thinking that the ground must sleep so soundly that every so often it is woken up by the song of people wandering along its back.

Moko, watching the sky one night, sees a shooting star and wonders where the stars come from. He travels to the mountain and meets a woman tending to a bonfire. As the woman blows on the fire to revive it, glowing embers fly up high into the sky. Moko thinks that he has found the source of all the stars in the sky.

Moko sees the ocean for the first time. He thinks it is a huge river or lake, but when he tastes the water, he notices that it is salty. He wonders what sorcerer would have played such a trick. Back in his village, he asks an old wise man to cast a spell on the village’s river so that the drinking water never becomes salty. The wise man reassures him that this is not necessary, the water will never be salty and Moko is grateful that someone has already thought of protecting the village’s river.

There is no rain in sight and Moko is worried. He decides to go and ask the advice of an old wise man who is said to be part magician, part sorcerer. Further confused by the wise man’s explanations, Moko heads nevertheless for the sand dunes. Far in the distance he sees a strange apparition: a cluster of trees around a small lake. He starts to run towards the apparition but no sooner has he begun his run that he can no longer see his destination. Disappointed, he sits on a rock and rests. A woman carrying a jug full of water on her head walks over to him and explains that he simply has to look in the right direction, and there, in the distance Moko sees the lake once again. He decides to head for it while never losing sight of it this time. On his way back to his village, he drops a trail of leaves to be able to return to the lake, but the wind quickly wipes away all of the leaves. Moko thinks that the desert shared a great secret with him and that it is best to keep it to himself.

In the middle of the day, the sun suddenly starts disappearing little by little. Frightened, Moko wonders what magician could be responsible for this. With the village wise man he goes off to find the sorcerer responsible for the sun’s disappearance. When they cannot find the culprit, they join the other villagers to observe the sky. An old lady sees them and tells them she has seen this happen before and to have no fear, the sun will return. When it does, Moko thinks to himself that the sun, tired of shining every day, must sometimes simply need a little nap.

It is night time and Moko can’t sleep. Looking out to the horizon, he notices a shot of colour at the water’s surface. He wakes Mei-Li to ask her what he is seeing. Together they take a barge and set off. Under them, a rainbow of colours is dancing in the waves. Moko and Mei-Li think that the fish must be organizing a party and decide to dive in. Bit by bit the sun is rising and day is breaking. The two friends return to the village, overjoyed at the wonders of the ocean.

On this night, Moko is meditating, contemplating the horizon. Mei-Li comes to keep him company. All of a sudden, they hear a hollow and continuous sound coming from beyond the beach. Mei-Li is frightened but Moko is curious and wants to know what is making this sound. As they approach the hills, the sound gets louder and louder and Mei-Li is more and more frightened, so Moko decides to go around the dune on his own. As he does so, the sound changes and becomes more of a song. Moko returns and tells Mei-Li that it is the sand and the ground singing together. She decides to sing as well. Moko thinks to himself that the magical dune is urging him to go on with his travels and he knows that this is likely his last day in the village. With a heavy heart, Moko decides that at dawn he will need to pack his bags.

As the first rays of dawn appear, Moko and Mei-Li head off to the forest to pick some plants that can’t be found anywhere else. Moko is following Mei-Li’s lead as she knows what to do. She picks a leaf and lets it float away, and Moko picks it up. All of a sudden, both his feet sink into the sand and he can’t get free. He calls out for help. Some fishermen come to his rescue and one of them throws him a line and they pull him to safety. Moko and Mei-Li head back towards the village thinking that the forest is jealous and possessive, since it clearly wanted to keep every leaf and every plant for itself.

Mei-Li takes Moko to the rice fields. The sky is blue and Moko thinks that in this country there just aren’t any clouds. Mei-Li tells him to wait until nightfall, that the rains will dance over the village. Moko doesn’t believe her, there isn’t a cloud in sight! Suddenly, the sky darkens and Mei-Li wants to return to the village, but Moko wants to know more. He climbs the hill behind the village to get a better look at the sky. The wind picks up and a great wave of rain washes everything in its wake. Moko and Mei-Li take shelter behind a rock. To make the rain stop Mei-Li starts to sing and dance. Bit by bit the rain subsides and the two friends decide to return to the village. Moko thinks that Mei-Li’s dancing was magical and had the power to stop the rain.

On that day, the sun was so hot that the villagers would not leave their houses. Moko and Mei-Li are resting in the shade of a tall tree. Mei-Li is wondering whether Moko will be leaving her and saddened by this thought she walks away. Moko sets off to try to find her in the forest. Droplets of water stream down from the trees like rain. On his way Moko meets a woman who tells him which way to go. Night falls and Moko can no longer see anything. He decides to wait until morning to go on. The next morning, Mei-Li has returned and in her hand she has a transparent stone. She is smiling because she sees that she must mean a lot to Moko since he came all this way to find her. She gives him the stone so that he will always remember her. Moko notices that the rain coming from the trees has stopped. He thinks that the trees have stopped crying now that Mei-Li is no longer sad. Together they walk back to the village, promising to reunite one day and share all of their discoveries.

After many days of rain, the sun has finally returned. Moko is enjoying the seashore on the beach when Mei-Li comes to get him to go fishing. They sail out into the sea and start throwing out their nets. In the distance Moko sees what looks like a hill. Mei-Li tells him they need to turn back, that that is actually a giant wave! All of a sudden their boat is lifted high into the air and propelled forward. The wave rises and rises and is headed directly for Mei-Li’s land. The wave crashes down and drops their boat right at the entrance to the village. The villagers surround Moko and Mei-Li, who have been dropped safely back home. Moko believes that they were kept safe because he knew to trust the ocean.

Moko and Mei-Li are resting as the day is fading. Suddenly, they hear a strange sound coming from behind the mountain that resonates throughout the village. The two friends go off to find the source of this strange sound and what they see surprises them. Two men are blowing into what look like long horns while others walk along with them and sing. Moko and Mei-Li watch them until they fall asleep. By morning, the strange procession is gone, but a man wakes them. He tells them that what our eyes see and what our ears hear is often what we want to see and hear. Confused, they head back towards their village, confident that they have witnessed another secret mystery.