When sixteen-year-old Omishto, a member of the Taiga Tribe, witnesses
her Aunt Ama kill a panther-an animal considered to be a sacred ancestor
of the Taiga people-she is suddenly torn between her loyalties to her
Westernized mother, who wants her to reject the ways of the tribe, and
to Ama and her traditional people, for whom the killing of the panther
takes on grave importance.