The series begins with two parallel scenes. The first scene is of a young girl falling through the sky, head downward and cradling a crow. The crow tries to stop the girl's fall by pulling on the hem of her robe, but cannot and eventually flies away. The other scene is of a group of female Haibane who find a large cocoon growing in a storage room. The Haibane clean the room to prepare for the opening of the cocoon. When the cocoon breaks open, the girl inside (the same one seen falling in the first scene) is brought to a guest room where several Haibane care for her, led by an older Haibane named Reki. When the young girl wakes up, she can remember only the part of her cocoon dream in which she was falling. As Haibane are traditionally named based on their dreams within the cocoon, she is named Rakka ("falling"). Shortly after arriving, the Haibane present Rakka with a halo which she begins to wear, and Reki cares for Rakka as she goes through the painful and bloody ordeal of having wings erupt from her back.