A young animal, Not-Bear, finds himself in a safe, yet unfamiliar place. Does he really belong there? Why does nothing else look like him? And why hasn't he been given a proper name? He leaves on a quest to find answers, and journeys through a dense Forest onto a vast Outside, where a City of Men lies in the shadow of distant mountains. Unknown to him, a cryptic prophecy has predicted his appearance on the Outside, and a violent struggle for power between men and animals begins. Will the forces of good, on the side of the animals, defeat an ancient evil that threatens to engulf their world? Or will the power-hungry King Barnabas, despotic ruler of the City, succeed in his battle for power and supremacy?