A tiger escapes from the local zoo, padding through the ruined streets and onwards, to a ridge above the Balkan village of Galina.

His nocturnal visits hold the villagers in a terrified thrall - but for one boy, the tiger is a thing of magic. Natalia is the granddaughter of that boy.

Now a doctor, she is visiting orphanages in the war-torn Balkans when she receives word of her beloved grandfather's death, far from their home, in circumstances shrouded in mystery. Compelled to unravel the truth, Natalia stumbles upon a clue that will lead her to a tattered copy of The Jungle Book, and then to the most extraordinary story her grandfather never told her - the legend of the tiger's wife.