Seventeen-year-old Sharna has a special gift – “animal kin” – the ability to communicate with animals.

Sharna lives in the Cederberg mountains and her fate becomes entwined with Cape leopards which are being poached, when she responds to their distress calls. She clashes violently with Hendrik, her cruel stepfather, and is forced to flee her home. For a while, Sharna is alone and afraid, until she finds refuge, support and, eventually, romance at an animal shelter where she is able to put her gift to good use.

But nothing stops Sharna from her quest to help the leopards, leading to a dramatic ending to this exciting story.