Muthavva gazed at her daughter’s face in the lamplight and felt a strange chill down her spine. She tightened the amulet on Devi’s arm, trying to stay her sense of disquiet. Devi stared through the window into the clear, starlit night. Beneath the blanket, her fists were curled into little balls, her nails pressing into the skin. She thought again of the tiger wedding, and of the bridegroom. “Only him,” she repeated to herself. “I will marry only Machu.”’ Coorg,1878. Devi is born on the day of the herons, and Muthavva knows that her daughter will be special. Beautiful and spirited, the little girl quickly becomes the object of adoration of her entire family. She befriends Devanna, a young boy whose mother has died in tragic circumstances, and they soon become inseparable. But the course of their lives changes forever when Devi meets Machu the tiger-killer, a hunter of great repute and a man of immense honour and pride. Blind to Devanna’s devotion, Devi vows that she will marry Machu some day. This creates a rift between her and Devanna who leaves the village to study medicine in the hope that when he comes back Devi will return his love. But a catastrophic twist of fate changes the destinies of all three.