1857. The Terai. Northern Bengal. The hot season.
Tensions ride high in the cities as India chafes against Company rule.
In the normally-peaceful foothills of the Himalayas, a late monsoon brings a tiger from the hills – a man-eater – slaking its thirst by first killing then sucking the moisture from cattle. Alarming-enough, but now a young boy fetching water from the Ganges has become its latest victim.
On the trail of the beast is a party of European big game hunters, determined to fetch its skin back to Calcutta as a prize for the Viceroy, make their reputations, save the locals from being terrorized and prove that the British can be trusted to protect the Raj.