Suspicious of sixteen-year-old Marnie, a newcomer to their village, the residents accuse her of witchcraft when she discovers that the village madman is not crazy but deaf and she begins to communicate with him through hand gestures.

When she is three-years-old, Tanith is taken from a den of wolves and lives for many years as the daughter of the chief of a warlike clan, until circumstances force her to choose between wolves and men.