Fletcher has poor self-esteem; therefore, he calls himself “stupid.” Fletcher feels that Jonathan is wasting his time, and Jonathan claims that Fletcher needs to keep on trying and he will be great at flying. Eventually, Jonathan acquires six new students that are all Outcasts. Then, Jonathan tells his students that it is time to return to the Breakfast Flock, and that is where Jonathan continues his teaching. Soon, many of the Breakfast Flock gulls become interested in learning how to fly like Jonathan. During a flight, Fletcher slams into a cliff and thinks he is dead, but Jonathan tells Fletcher that he has just reached a new level. With the desire to leave, Jonathan wants Fletcher to take over being the teacher to the other gulls. Although Fletcher does not want him to leave, Jonathan vanishes. Fletcher remains on the shore to assist and teach the gulls from the Breakfast Flock.

Jonathan Livingston Seagull is a gull who is different from all others. Seagulls fly in order to find food, but Jonathan is more interested in speed, height, and flying gracefully. Because he is not like the other seagulls, Jonathan’s parents are concerned about him as he is becoming very skinny and weak. Eventually, Jonathan rejoins his flock, and he is shamed in front of the flock and becomes an outcast. He now knows that he will have to live alone for the rest of his life. One night, many years later, when Jonathan is flying, two bright gulls tell him it is time to go home.

After Jonathan dies, two birds approach him and tell Jonathan that they have come to take him to a new and higher level of learning. Because Jonathan strived for perfection, he was taken from his old world and taken to a higher level. Jonathan realized that he was not in heaven because Chiang, the elder gull, said that heaven is not a place, it is perfection. Jonathan begins to remember his old Breakfast Flock, and he decides to go back down to the shore. There he meets Fletcher, an outcast of the Breakfast Flock. Jonathan becomes Fletcher’s teacher and teaches him love and the meaning of forgiveness. Jonathan makes Fletcher promise that he will return and teach others.