When the Nazis bomb Belgrade zoo, causing the panicking animals to run for their lives, the tiger escapes to the hills above the zoo to the fictional village of Galina. The story is set 60 years later when the narrator, Natalia, tells us the complex story of what happened to the tiger and the people of Galina.

On the death of Natalia's beloved grandfather, the story is retold. He was a native of Galina and just a boy when the tiger appeared. The explanation to her grandfather's life and death sits between two stories, the story of the tiger's wife, and the story of the deathless man. Natalia has followed in her grandfather's steps and become a doctor.

On hearing of his death, she takes us on a complex journey of investigation . He had been her constant companion and their weekly visit to the city zoo was a ritual. A whole menagerie of rural Balkan curiosities whose stories are embroidered into the book creates a brilliant black comedy and the narrative is part of the novel's great delight.