The story focuses on Harry Feversham, a young man who was driven by his father's wishes and society's expectations into a career of a British officer. Inheriting his mother's delicacy, Harry grew up alienated from societal norms he could not adhere to. In due time, such upbringing did cause him a repression that led to a long inner-conflict of self-esteem and self-doubt.
When Harry joined the ranks of military forces, he only did so to make his father happy. His heart, however, was never set on such a vocation and was slipping gradually from the prospect of spending a life-time in its confinement. Upon meeting the beautiful Ethne Eustace and falling in love with her, his aversion towards a meaningless career reached its peak and he finally decided to resign his commission. On a leave to London, he gathered a small party of colleagues to announce his intentions, but misfortune had it that on the same night, a telegram would reach him announcing the removal of his regiment in direction of the Sudanese territory.
At that moment, Harry was torn between two options, to leave with his regiment in quest of glories that meant nothing to him, or remain to marry the woman he loved. In the end, he opted for the latter choice, for he found the prospect of becoming a war hero utterly insignificant. This action of his, however, was read differently by his colleagues in particular and the rest of the community in general. Societal masculinity norms of late 19th Century Britain placed military life higher than any other act of heroism. By the same token, a resignation like Harry's was only indicative of a deficient manhood, and a mark of cowardice. Accordingly Harry received on the following week a small package containing three white feathers as an emblem of his alleged cowardice.
Unfortunately, Ethne was present when Harry received this shameful package. Doubting his courage and character, she too had followed suit and added a fourth feather to his lot before returning her ring and calling off their engagement. This moment marked the collapse of order in Harry's life. Until then, his existence had its center around the idealistic bond which linked him to Ethne. Once this link was broken, the desire to wash himself clean of such false accusations awakened in him, and he longed to prove himself worthy again of her love and respect.
With this design in mind, Harry set sail to the war-zone in Sudan and Egypt. His soul was in turmoil all the while. On the one hand, he burnt with desire to prove himself a brave man who had never flinched yet before death. On the other, his repressed fears from childhood haunted him and he dreaded being truly the coward everyone else thought him to be. His fears, however, had no solid ground, for he performed the most daring and dangerous acts and had undergone no end of dangers to come to the help of his former comrade Captain Trench who was the one who sent him the feathers. After so many hardships in Omdurman, Harry finally returned to his country and his people. It is as a hero that he returned. yet on a final note, he stated that without the feathers he would have never had such an epiphany about himself, and would have always suspected in the deepest recesses of his soul that he was a coward.
