Who are you if you've never seen another face like yours? Where do you belong if you don't know where your home is? What do you call yourself when others call you 'freak'? Skrimsli is the only flame-coloured tiger born in a litter of white cubs. He and his friends, Owl and Kal, must escape the clutches of tyrannical circus owner Kobret Majak and his twin assassin-acrobats, stop a war, and save an ancient forest. They're helped by the Palatine and her eagle, a chihuahua who thinks she's a wolf, a horse with a heart of gold - and the crew of a very unusual ship . . .