"Cast out of his coalition, Stride the cheetah embarks on a perilous mission for the Great Parent, accompanied by a honey badger burdened with a dark and mysterious past. Whisper the water buffalo has been searching desperately for her brother Echo, presumed dead after a terrible fall. And the hyena now known as Breathstealer finds herself courted by the Great Spirit at one moment and other times tempted by the Great Devourer...The balance of power...

Pinduli, a young striped hyena, is hurt by the unkind words of Dog, Lion, and Zebra, but her clever trick in return promotes her clan's survival and spreads harmony throughout the savannah, in a story which includes backmatter notes about hyenas and other animals of the African savannah.