After the death of his mother, 13-year-old Terry journeys from Wyoming to India to join his father, Hugh Bowen, a big-game hunter whom the boy idolizes. Arriving a day earlier than expected, Terry walks to his father's house and is disappointed to find him reserved in his behavior. He then learns that his father has lost his courage after an almost fatal clawing by a tiger. Terry is further disillusioned when his father, in fear, shoots a cheetah the boy was trying to tame. Terry runs away and meets Raji, an Indian boy whose father's dying wish was for the boy to deliver a sacred white elephant, the calf of the mammoth elephant Maya, to a distant temple in the jungle. Terry persuades Raji to carry out his father's desire and accompanies him on the long trip. The boys are menaced by tigers and by the evil One-Eye, a man who wants to steal the valuable white elephant. With the help of Terry's father, who regains his courage, the boys safely accomplish their mission.