Pi and his zoo-keeping family emigrate from India to North America aboard a cargo ship, along with their zoo animals. The ship sinks, and Pi finds himself alone in a lifeboat, his only companions a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and Richard Parker, a 450-pound Bengal tiger. Soon the tiger has dispatched all but Pi, whose knowledge and cunning allow him to coexist with Richard Parker for 227 days while lost at sea. When they finally reach the coast of Mexico, Richard Parker flees to the jungle, never to be seen again. The Japanese authorities who interrogate Pi refuse to believe his story and press him to tell them "the truth."