This cartoon opens on the humble countryside location of Briar Ville. Residents move along the main dirt road at an easy saunter, probably with clear destinations in mind but enough leisure to offer passersby a friendly handwave or greeting. Businesses and various important public buildings line both sides of the street, such as the little red schoolhouse (where students sit deep in study), the post office, and the local town marketplace.
One community member, though, zips through the street with a definite purpose. Bendy the Dancing Demon whistles as he delivers wrapped bundles, objects, and messages to one place after another, hopping up to click his heels together on occasion—especially whenever he receives a tip. A woolen cap perched between the horns on his head indicates his status as an official errand boy, stitched together by Ms. Mittens, a good friend and professional knitter.
A wide grin stretches across the face of the small toon as he remembers the gift, and his pie-cut eyes sparkle. Bendy has made many friends here in Briar Ville, more than he could have ever dared to dream of in his former life among other demons, and sheer happiness sends him tip-tapping a fine beat for all to see.
His joy only promises to increase, causing the white bowtie attached to his chest to give a whirl, at spotting Alice Angel—one of his best and first friends ever—as she leaves the Briar Ville Public Library, cradling a hefty armload of books. But as Alice comes down the front stairs that lead up to the oaken doors, she missteps, causing her arms to jerk open wide enough to release the books. They start to fall.
Time appears to slow down as Bendy tucks the bundles he has left to deliver into the hammerspace behind his back, rushes forward, and manages to catch the books. Of course, then time speeds up back to its usual pace, his arms quiver from the strain of the weight, and he flops hard onto the ground.
Alice Angel is at his side in an instant, concern etched on her features. She helps to tug Bendy's arms free from under the heavy books and winces at their flat-as-pancakes consistency.
At least until Bendy simply sticks one of his thumbs into his mouth and blows, which inflates both arms back into their right shape with a loud, popping sound. He gives her a winning grin, and Alice sighs in relief before gathering up the books again. But then, gazing at the borrowed texts in her arms, an odd, crestfallen shadow darkens the face of the toon angel.
Startled by her sudden dampened mood, Bendy materializes a dialogue bubble above his head. It shows an illustration of the books that Alice is holding with a question mark over them, as if to ask which ones she has checked out of the library.
Alice holds up one of the slimmer books on top, this one with a symbol of what would be (if the cartoon were in color) a red cross atop a medical guide. In her own dialogue bubble, she recounts a recent episode where Boris the Wolf—their other best friend—had gotten sick. Apparently, she wants to get better at medicine in general, and Bendy nods his head in admiration.
When he points to the other, much heavier books, however, Alice frowns and grows distracted. Mouth moving in a murmur, her next dialogue bubble lists off titles like, The Fundamentals of Aerodynamics, Wings and Things, and High-Flying Dreams. Something about their general themes leads her to gaze up at the passing clouds and tweeting birds. She sighs again, her mind elsewhere even as she turns and treats Bendy to a small smile.
With obvious concern, Bendy volunteers to help Alice carry her books back to her cottage on the outskirts of town, but she quickly (albeit with her usual courteousness) turns him down and hurries away, continuing to gaze upwards on occasion.
Bendy watches her go, then proceeds to finish up his errands around the main street. Unfortunately, now he travels without the same lighthearted air as before.
All the while, the distracted look Alice had worn as she gazed at the skies bothers him.
Later, Bendy recounts the experience to Boris as he paces the bare floorboards of the wooden shack where the toon wolf lives. He tumbles over the unfamiliar word "aerodynamics" in a dialogue bubble until Boris, reclining on his armchair and playing soft notes on his clarinet, creates a mental bubble to show the concept pertains to how well something flies in the air. Like frisbees, or birds.
Continuing to mull over this new term and the titles of the other books, Bendy scratches his head with a question mark bobbing above him—until he freezes, and the question mark bursts into a lit lightbulb, before dissolving into a puffy bubble of recollection.
The bubble depicts that when Alice Angel had first descended from heaven to earth, she had come riding a cloud and in the hopes of earning her angel wings after the successful completion of her mission. That mission, consequently, had turned out to involve her helping Bendy find his place on the surface. Afterwards, rather than returning to stay in heaven (as the images reveal), Alice had chosen to descend again and make her home near Briar Ville as well, with horns now poking out of the flowing dark hair on her head.
Those angels up above had never given Alice her wings.
Steams whistles out of the horns on Bendy's head at the idea, as he connects it to the sadness haunting Alice, and all the misery she must be going through at that exact moment despite all the good work she has done on earth. He even recalls the medical guide Alice had checked out of the library, so she can study medicine to help others, regardless of her own predicament. The whole situation is unfair.
Stomping his foot in frustration, Bendy gazes out the front window of the shack and toward the shape of Alice's cottage in the distance, surrounded by a flourishing flower garden. He even notices an unusually large flock of birds hovering around it, although perhaps they are trying to cheer up Alice in their own way. In any event, such things must be small comfort for an angel left wingless on earth, or so it seems to him.
After all, it is partly thanks to Alice—Boris claims the other part—that Bendy has gotten to enjoy a fresh start in Briar Ville.
Well, there is only one thing to do: he will just have to find a way to help Alice fly again.
Grinning hugely in mischievous goodwill, Bendy asks for some rope, which Boris visualizes in a mental bubble as being in the small shed right behind the shack, alongside a pile of wood, his toolbox, and a wide array of similar supplies.
Bendy whistles in thanks before heading out the front door on his mission.
Sensing another busy day ahead, Boris plays three notes on his clarinet that sound like "Wah-wah-wah," dropping an octave with each note. Then he gets up to follow his buddy outside.
The best solution Bendy can come up with is to snag a cloud, like the kind Alice had used for her travel to and from heaven. He can remember it being dense and speedy, or at least speedy enough to rescue him from getting trampled by an angry ram when they'd first met, even while puttering only a few feet above the ground.
Clouds drift overhead in the wide countryside skies as well, so it makes sense that he can just grab another one to give Alice as a present.
He ties the rope found in the shed into a lasso and climbs atop one of the foothills near the shack, watched in curiosity by a flock of sheep. Boris joins them soon afterwards, hands stuffed in the pockets of his overalls.
Bendy scans the skies for good, puffy candidate. Something large enough for Alice to ride, or even to stretch out on if so inclined. Finally, he spots one drifting in his direction pushed by a light breeze. He readies the lasso, twirling it as the cloud draws closer. Then, when it appears to be almost overhead, he hurls the end of the lasso upwards—and misses.
More specifically, the rope falls short of the goal.
He tries again, hurling the lasso with as much gusto as his small toon arms can muster, but still the rope cannot reach the cloud, which is clearly higher than it seems. Either that, or the rope is too short.
In any case, Bendy will just need to get closer before the cloud drifts away.
Some way to get closer…
A lit light bulb appears above his head. Reaching into his hammerspace, Bendy brings out a yo-yo that has a swirly design on the sides. As visualized memories reveal, the toon has struggled to learn tricks on this yo-yo for a while.
Now, though, he might another use for it.
Bendy unwinds the string of the yo-yo to its full length and twirls it above his head. But rather than fling any part of the toy toward the cloud as with the lasso, he continues to twirl the yo-yo faster and faster in circles above his head, causing the grass to ripple around him and dust to get picked up.
The sheep and Boris back away a couple of steps as, with the string resembling and sounding a lot like fast-moving helicopter blades, Bendy lifts off the ground. He sweats from the effort but beams in triumph as the yo-yo takes him higher and higher. Boris looks impressed, and the sheep bleat in awe.
The only unfortunate thing is that while Bendy is hovering now, he is moving too slowly to reach the cloud before the wind blows it away. So, he speeds up, sweating more profusely as the yo-yo and its string blur into indiscernible, sharp curves in the air. The sounds of helicopter blades raise in pitch and now sound closer to whizzing saw blades. And then, with a sudden lurch, Bendy shoots straight into the air with a sharp flute-whistle noise.
He blows right through the cloud, causing it to burst apart, although that is the least of his worries. The world spins around Bendy as he zigzags through the sky, and the earth and sky even seem to swap places for a moment before he sails straight up again and his arms, quivering from the strain, give out.
He plummets toward the earth.
Thankfully, the sheep are there to cushion his fall. They scuttle over like a huge mattress, and Bendy crashes face first into their wooly coats. He sits up atop the back of one sheep, eyes twirling and little stars dancing above his head, as Boris wades his way through the flock to him.
As the sheep move apart, they leave Bendy swaying on his feet with the yo-yo still completely unwound all over the grass. Bits of wool cling to his horns and shoulders. Boris considers his friend for a moment with a hint of anxiety, rubs the back of his neck with one gloved hand, and materializes an image of a pot of bubbling soup on the stove of his shack—as if to suggest they take a lunch break.
But the only effect the suggestion has is to break Bendy out of his daze. The toon shakes his head, and by way of dialogue bubble, he indicates an intention to keep pursuing a cloud to give Alice. It is clear he refuses to eat or do anything else until then, trudging back toward the shed to grab more supplies, apparently with another plan in mind.
Boris watches the next several attempts that Bendy makes to grab a cloud while making bacon soup, the smell of which on most days is usually enough to bring his little buddy running. Instead, Bendy fails to even turn his head at the aroma as he bounces on a trampoline toward another cloud to grab, first with his gloved hands, and then while wielding a giant butterfly net, and fails. Each time he reaches the clouds, his hands pass right through the fluffiness, and more than once the sheep need to break his fall again.
Bendy blows up the lit lightbulb that appears whenever he has a bright idea, and then uses it like a balloon to drift up to a cloud and jump right on top of it, only to fall right through toward the ground with a squeal of shock, bulging pie-cut eyes, and another flute-whistle noise.
As the sheep catch Bendy, this time making him bounce up for a moment, it occurs to Boris that the clouds he has always seen drifting through the countryside are much lighter and fluffier than the cloud that Alice had ridden. Visualizing the two clouds, there are indeed distinct differences between them, which probably explains why Bendy cannot catch any of the countryside clouds. Having had little experience with clouds in general as well, his friend probably believes that he can still do it with just the right tools or gadgets.
Boris intercepts Bendy on yet another trip to the shed and shares his findings. At first, he thinks the information has ended the whole endeavor. The toon demon even deflates as he muses over his own observations of the cloud Alice had ridden from heaven, suddenly miserable, and Boris tries to tempt Bendy into the shack for a bowl of bacon soup.
But Bendy turns him down and refuses the homemade bacon soup, wandering off while gazing skywards. He climbs a nearby hilltop, thumps cross-legged onto the grass, and sighs.
Returning to the shack, Boris gazes at the bacon soup still bubbling away on the stove. Even at this awkward moment, its fragrance tugs at him to enjoy at least one or two bowls—except the scene of his sad buddy keeps getting in the way. It is a peculiar thing, but almost nothing in his life could have ever gotten between Boris and food, at least until he met Bendy and Alice. At that point, the equation had become far more complicated.
So, without taking a single bite of soup, Boris switches off the stove and leaves to see Alice.
Meanwhile, Bendy lays on the hilltop and stares at the sky. The events of the morning loop through his mind without mercy, from Alice's distracted expression to the realization that the countryside clouds would be a poor replacement for the cloud from heaven. If only those angels had given Alice her wings in the first place, as she deserved, none of this would be happening.
The toon demon pauses and sits up.
Of course.
If those angels are indeed responsible for making Alice miserable, they more than owe her a pair of wings. His friend is so nice that she would probably suffer in silence rather than make a fuss on the issue, just as Bendy would always bow his head and suffer in silence as well.
Well, times have changed, and at the very least, Alice deserves a new cloud that she can keep forever.
Bendy stands and gazes at the patch of skies from which Alice first appeared. He can practically feel what is up there.
He stares right at heaven.
When Boris reaches the cottage where Alice resides, he finds it busy with flocks of birds perched along the fence that surrounds the front yard and flitting through the flowers in her garden. They roost on the single tree in her yard, and peck at the feed in the birdhouse hanging from a low-hanging branch. And most of them tweet along as Alice hums a gentle melody, shielded from the sun by a parasol.
Odd. For lamenting her lack of wings, Alice seems as full of happiness as Bendy does while dancing or running errands around Briar Ville. She even welcomes him with a wave. Then a question mark forms above her head at his apparent bewildered expression.
Boris chooses to bring up the scene in the morning that Bendy had recounted, of meeting her in front of the Briar Ville Public Library, and her distracted air—at which Alice grows embarrassed. She leads him over to one of the branches on the tree in her yard, where there is a large nest. Three fledglings stand on the edge of it, fidgeting their wings while gazing around at their fellow birds.
As Boris listens, Alice recounts by way of dialogue bubble the way that she has become good friends with the birds who visit her yard, and her excitement when a couple built a nest in her tree and began a family there. Images stream past of coming out to see eggs in the nest, of the eggs hatching, and her joy at watching the chicks slowly growing until this moment—the time of their first flight.
Still confused, Boris brings up the books again, and Alice picks up one that is laying on her front porch steps, Wings and Things, which she opens it to reveal images of birds, outlines of their migration patterns, and even the anatomy of wings.
These fledglings, it seems, are almost ready to take flight and leave the nest for distant lands, and the bird couple are celebrating the occasion with all their friends. However, Alice implies by way of more images in a bubble that she will miss the young birds, and as she does so, she gazes at the skies, looking as distracted as Bendy has described to Boris.
The toon wolf nods his head understandingly. It makes sense that Alice would miss her little bird friends, watched over as carefully as Boris does his sheep. He even sighs in relief; apparently, Alice feels just fine without angel wings.
Then he frowns, remembering Bendy, and brings up the events of the last few hours, at which Alice grows alarmed again, but now for the very clear reason that she has inadvertently caused their smallest friend so much distress. She turns to the bird couple and the fledglings. They have overhead the conversation and chitter in understanding as Alice explains her need to leave for a while, so she can check on Bendy and explain the situation.
A bleat from the front entrance interrupts them. It is a sheep from the flock, with a slightly chewed message in her mouth. Alice reads the message, which says simply: "Went to Heaven for Wings. From, Bendy."
Alice gasps, but Boris just scratches his head. A mental bubble appears above him that shows Bendy walking through the pearly gates, with the addition of a question mark, as if to ask if a demon can reach heaven at all. And Alice is quick to supply an answer of her own that the gates of heaven are reachable by anyone who is good or pure of heart.
The definition hangs on the air, and Alice grows more anxious as she forms a clear link between that description and Bendy. However, Boris is still calm, insisting that in his previous attempts to simply reach a cloud, their buddy has failed to get too far off the ground. Which only makes his intention to visit heaven far-fetched by comparison.
Alice has almost eased her mind, as they start walking back toward the shack, when there comes a loud spoing noise that echoes through the air, and they notice a disturbingly familiar dark figure shoot high into the skies.
Running toward the source of the commotion, but still with their main attention focused at the spot overhead where the figure has now disappeared, they find a large slingshot perched on a hilltop, with a thick rubber band still swinging back and forth. Several of the nearby sheep look frantic, though not as frantic as Boris and Alice.
Alice rushes to the slingshot, shouting instructions to Boris, and the wolf starts to pull back the rubber band.
The portly angel who stands behind the lectern next to the gates of heaven, ready to welcome new souls into their realm, has seen countless things in his divine life. But a small demon shooting up like a bullet through a section of the cloudscape, to land with a thud right in front of him, completely baffles him.
Adjusting the golden spectacles on his bulbous nose, the angel leans over the lectern as Bendy sits up and rubs his head. Their eyes meet, and Bendy yelps in alarm at the sight of an angel inches away, at which the angel flinches back as if in response. At least until recognition sets in, indicated by a mental bubble that materializes over the angel's head. It contains images which reveal him as having given Alice the scroll containing her mission on earth, related to a demon running loose and a soul in peril, and then the strangeness of having Alice return long enough to report the demon as a friendly, non-threatening character.
Noticing the mental bubble, Bendy feels his fear drain away at the reminder of his own mission. He springs to his feet and demands a pair of angel wings for Alice for having saved him, Bendy, the Dancing Demon. Additionally, he puffs out his chest in an assertive gesture, as he has seen Boris do when dealing with unruly sheep, at least until he notices the pearly gates of heaven creak open near the portly angel. On the other side, he glimpses other angels of different shapes, but all with halos, white robes, and wings. Several of them regard him in curiosity, others in shock, and yet others with clear outrage.
Bendy sees the range of expressions, and he gulps in terror at the realization he might have made a terrible move. He is alone in heaven now, among a whole realm of angels that would probably be glad to smite a demon on principle, or something of that nature. How could he have possibly forgotten that terrifying fact?
He winces and grabs his shoulder, bruised sometime during his takeoff, and then almost jumps out of his skin when the portal angel appears at his side. But the angel has a winkled, good-natured face, and conjures a dialogue bubble that shows him shaking hands with Alice and being on good terms with her. Then he gently shakes Bendy's hand, and his kindness and familiarity with his friend calm down the toon demon. He allows the portal angel to heal his shoulder with a touch of his fingertips.
At this point, Bendy brings up the subject of wings again, and of Alice appearing sad because she is earthbound and unable to fly—at which the portly angel looks confused. A dialogue bubble appears above his head, recalling the moment when Alice had returned from her mission, and the portal angel had turned down an offer of wings in order to stay on earth.
Question mark appearing above his head, Bendy is on the verge of saying something when there comes a whizzing sound, followed by another figure through the cloud layer. It is Alice herself, a bit winded from her high-speed flight. She adjusts her halo and gasps at the sight of Bendy, rushing forward to scoop him up into a tight hug.
Her gratefulness to see him whole and unharmed is obvious, and she doesn't put him down until she greets the portly angel and gives him a polite curtsy. A dialogue bubble pops into view over her head to suggest just how dangerous it had been for Bendy to launch himself that high into the sky, and how much he has scared his friends.
Bendy replies feebly with a visualization of his mission to give Alice wings to make her feel better, when it is then time for Alice to look a bit ashamed, as she explains about the birds and the fledglings. They each manage a bit of a chuckle at this little misunderstanding that has led to these extreme measures, and then turn when the portly angel chuckles as well.
He looks between the two of them and asks Alice if she wants wings after all. But the toon angel shakes her head, explaining that she knows it would mean having to live in heaven, when what she wants the most is to stay on earth with her friends, who make her feel as if she is flying all the time. The horns on her head, a sign of her status as a fallen angel—albeit with good intentions and by choice—are almost like wings in that sense, since they have come with her new life.
As Alice gives her explanation, her hands clasped together in front of her, Bendy sniffs and gives a wide grin. Then he glances over the edge of the cloud at the land far below, and asks how they will get down, since that is another thing that he failed to think about on the way up.
In this, the portly angel has a solution. His pie-cut eyes twinkle as he reaches down and pulls up a section of the heavenly cloud layer to give Alice, declaring by way of dialogue bubble that it is hers to use from this point onwards. Because, as his wink to her seems to suggest, they deserved something extra for having come all this way, and for all their good deeds on earth so far. He finishes by inviting them to visit again whenever they wish.
Tears shining in her eyes, Alice hugs the portly angel, and Bendy shakes his hand again, before they both hop aboard the cloud and head down toward earth. The flight is smooth, and Bendy gazes around at the land below in astonishment at how beautiful it is, and how far he can see into the distance, to what appear to be distant mountains, towns, and cities. There is still so much of the world to know. Right now, though, Bendy only wants to go back home.
As they get descend further, Briar Ville and the surrounding countryside become clearer, a whole flock of birds fly in their direction. Alice points them out as the birds celebrating at her cottage, they exchange hums and tweets—and whistles, from Bendy—as they soar on past. The last three birds hover in front of the cloud, however—the three fledglings, in the middle of their first full flight. They circle around Alice in a bird halo of sorts, before soaring away to find where they belong in the world, just as Alice and Bendy are returning to where they belong near Briar Ville, and with Boris, watching from the hilltop now with a pair of binoculars.
Alice gives Bendy a peck on the top of his head as thanks for his thoughtfulness, making Bendy blush and his bowtie whirl like a miniature fan. Then all three friends embrace in a huge group hug upon reaching the ground.
Nighttime is on the approach now, and Boris invites Alice and Bendy to his shack for a round of bacon soup, which they both accept. And as the stars come out, the skies are only half as beautiful to gaze upon as the happiness shared by a trio whose home is with each other.