Yearning for friends and family, 12-year-old Torma impulsively makes a promise. She takes on a quest to find the heart of a country and a lost penguin. Along the way, it also becomes a vital secret mission to protect the planet from Shady Forces. She hikes across the high mountains of Nepal into the alluring land of myth and magic—Tibet—now full of dangerous Invaders. But she is being hunted. If caught, she will be put in prison and "disappeared." And she is all alone. Help is at hand from her best friend, who is a voice in her head. But can he be trusted?