 Young Tina lives with her mother and stepfather on a wildlife reserve in Kenya. While her stepfather believes this is a wonderful environment for her to grow up in, her mother becomes increasingly concerned by her behaviour. These concerns are reinforced when it is revealed that her daughter s best friend in the whole world is a fully grown lion. Worried that her daughter may be turning into a savage, she sends for her former husband, Tina s biological father, in the hope that he can take her back to civilization (in this case rural Connecticut). But it seems as though Tina s mother wants something more than a civilized upbringing for her daughter.