Pi Patel, a God-loving boy and the son of a zookeeper, has a ferent love of stories and practices not only his native Hinduism, but also Christianity and Islam. When Pi is sixteen, his family and their zoo animals emigrate from India to North America aboard a Japanese cargo ship. Alas, the ship sinks-and Pi finds himself in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a wounded zebra, and a 450 pound bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi. Can Pie and the tiger find their way to land? Can Pi's fear, knowledge and cunning keep him alive until they do?