In a future world where humans live in strict harmony with nature, every twelve-year-old child must leave the safety of the village and spend one year living in the wild with a group of animals—this is the Year of Sharing. Young Richard is sent to join a herd of wild horses, where he must learn their language, earn their trust, and survive without human help. Through hunger, danger, and hardship, he gradually understands that sharing means giving as well as taking: when an animal dies, the herd shares its flesh so that all may live. When winter brings tragedy, Richard finally learns the true, heartbreaking meaning of the circle of life.
