The Ranga Duar's commanding officer in eastern Bengal, Major Dermot, accepts being posted away from staff headquarters to this remote outpost of British India with open arms -- for he has a deep-seated love of the jungles of Terai, with all their mysterious beauty -- and full respect for the majestic animals that dwell there. Word arrives at last of his true mission here: to enter the Terai, to determine what threat is being posed by the Chinese and rebel Bhutanese. Yet as he undertakes his assignment Dermot realizes he has more than soldiers and military actions to worry about. First he meets a strange elephant called by the natives Gunesh -- a name suggesting divine character. Then a second, savage elephant bull makes an appearance -- and seems intent on murdering him! In the violence of the days to come, Dermot's fate comes to seem intertwined with that of the wild creatures of the deepest jungle.