China, 1944. Tormented, enigmatic Su Li, saved as a foundling by mysterious tigers, reared by a legendary Shaolin Master, then sent away as an outcast, has reluctantly raised her adopted son and become a healer and fearsome protector to local villagers from the Japanese. Disguised as a man in a land hostile to any woman living alone, she lives for one reason: to return to her beloved Master. But her precarious existence is shattered by the unexpected arrival of a foreign soldier. Lt. James Ellison, pilot for the US Army Air Force, is haunted by the memory of marauding Japanese soldiers murdering his missionary father and kidnapping his mother five years earlier in China. With only a slim hope to rescue her, he parachutes close to enemy lines where he crosses paths with the inscrutable woman who will change his life. His appeal for her aid creates an uneasy alliance that takes them across war-torn China in a tale of danger, love, forgiveness and self-discovery.