Tough and resourceful Tala will be 13 soon, and no one will tell her what to do. On one fateful day in the forest, however, she has to find her endangered father and protect her young brother from a trio of murderous poachers. All the while, she and her brother may have to face the forest's legendary keepers--the deceptively playful characters known as the Stone People, and a giant, black bird known and feared as Culloo.