Major part of the novel is set in the present and half a century before the present time. The novel tells the story of a relationship between a young doctor, Natalia, and her grandfather, who tells her different stories. Most of the stories are about the Deathless Man who meets the grandfather on three occasions in different places. There is also the story of a deaf and mute girl from the grandfather's childhood village. She makes a tiger her friend. The tiger happens to have escaped from a zoo.