Daily life at Iran's second biggest zoo is interrupted when Mohsen, the head keeper, takes Maya, his 4 year old Bengal tiger, to perform in a fiction film in the north of the country. With an opportunity for fame and freedom, Mohsen transports Maya to an old sanctuary near the film shoot on the edge of the Caspian Sea which was once home to the now extinct caspian tiger. In between filming, Mohsen let’s Maya off the leash and allows her to roam in this sparsely populated landscape - she is the first ‘free’ tiger in Iran in over 60 years. But instead of the perfect experience that Mohsen has spent his life working towards, the trip kickstarts a series of events that mark the end of Mohsen and Maya's relationship and in the process reveals a much darker and more complex side to keeping captive wild animals.
With extraordinary imagery and utterly unique access to life in Iran, the film stands as a fable for our relationship with the natural world.