When a young elephant is brutally orphaned by poachers and then captured, it is only a matter of time before he breaks his chains and begins terrorising the countryside. Meanwhile, studious Manu and his wayward brother, Jayan, are drawn into the alluring world of ivory hunting, while his family life grows ever more complicated. Emma is working on a documentary set in a Kerala wildlife park with her best friend. Her work leads her to witness the porous boundary between conservation and corruption and she finds herself caught up in betrayal. As the novel hurtles toward its tragic climax, these three storylines fuse into a meditation on love and revenge.