Rob discovers a tiger locked in a cage in the foggy woods behind the Kentucky Star Motel.

A new girl in a pink dress boards the school bus and introduces herself to the class as Sistine Bailey.

Principal Phelmer tells Rob to stay home from school, worried that the rash on his legs might be contagious.

The motel housekeeper Willie May tells Rob that his rash is sadness he must let rise to his heart.

Rob tells Sistine his secret about the tiger, and she believes him instantly without any doubt.

Rob and Sistine sneak through the woods and find the tiger locked in a rusty cage secured by three padlocks.

Beauchamp hires Rob to feed the tiger twice a day and hands him the keys to the cage.

Sistine finds out Rob has the cage keys and urgently demands that he release the tiger.

Rob decides to free the tiger, and he and Sistine unlock all three padlocks on the cage door.

The tiger refuses to leave its open cage even as Rob and Sistine shout and rattle the bars.

The tiger finally steps out of the cage and runs blazing across the field into the woods.

Rob and Sistine hear a gunshot and discover Rob's father standing over the dead tiger with his rifle.

Rob attacks his father in fury over the dead tiger and forces him to say Caroline's name aloud.

Rob, Sistine, Willie May, and Rob's father bury the tiger together and each say a few words at the grave.

Rob's father promises to try harder to talk about Caroline, and that night Rob dreams of a green bird flying free.

Rob Horton moves to Lister, Florida after his mother's death and discovers a tiger caged in the woods — a secret he uses to keep his feelings locked away. A fierce new girl named Sistine enters his life and refuses to let him stay closed off, pushing him toward honesty about both the tiger and his grief. When Beauchamp hires Rob to feed the tiger, Sistine sees an opportunity and demands Rob use the keys to set the animal free. They unlock the cage together, but the tiger's freedom is short-lived — Rob's father shoots it to protect the children from harm. The confrontation over the dead tiger finally cracks Rob open: he attacks his father, forces him to say Caroline's name, and both weep together for the first time. By the story's end, Rob's grief has risen to the surface, and he and his father begin rebuilding their bond around Caroline's memory.

The headline events of Rob's journey from grief to healing.

Norton and Billy Threemonger bully Rob on the school bus, calling him names and mocking the rash on his legs.

Rob surprises himself by shouting at a group of kids to leave Sistine alone during a fight outside the lunchroom.

On the bus ride home, Sistine sits next to Rob and the two bond over art and their shared dislike of school.

Rob's father reads Mr. Phelmer's note and agrees to let Rob stay home to help with maintenance work around the motel.

Rob's father begins whistling a song he once sang with Caroline but stops abruptly mid-tune and says nothing.

Sistine borrows Rob's pants and shirt so her fancy dress won't be ruined hiking through the woods to see the tiger.

While walking through the woods, Sistine tells Rob about her parents' divorce and her belief that her father will come rescue her.

Beauchamp drives Rob recklessly through the woods in his red jeep, excitedly planning to surprise him with the tiger.

Sistine shakes the tiger's cage and cries in frustration, and Rob comforts her the way his mother once comforted him.

Willie May tells Sistine bluntly in the motel parking lot that she is full of anger and must rescue herself.

Rob carves a wooden likeness of Willie May's lost parakeet Cricket and gives it to her as a gift.

Beauchamp unexpectedly arrives near the tiger's cage, and Sistine protects their secret by sweetly telling him her name is Sissy.

After the tiger's funeral, Sistine takes Rob's hand, apologizes for starting everything, and tells him he is her best friend.

That evening Rob's father sings the gold mining song to Rob while gently applying medicine to his legs.

Rob wakes the next morning to find the sun shining brightly and decides to carve a tiger for Sistine.

From the moment Sistine arrives in Lister, she and Rob find themselves drawn together despite their very different personalities, bonding on bus rides and walks through the woods over art and a shared sense of being outsiders. As their friendship deepens, Rob slowly lowers his guard while Sistine confronts her own anger about her broken family. Willie May watches over both of them, confronting Sistine about her rage in the parking lot and receiving Rob's carved gift of Cricket with quiet, profound emotion. Even the smaller moments — a father's abruptly stopped song, a borrowed pair of pants, a comforting hand on Sistine's neck — reveal the emotional currents running beneath the surface of Rob's life. After the tiger is shot and buried, Sistine's apology and declaration that Rob is her best friend marks a genuine resolution to both their struggles with loneliness and loss. The final chapter closes with Rob's father singing again and Rob greeting a sunny morning with new hope.

The friendship, family moments, and daily details that shape Rob's world.

Rob's father slapped Rob at Caroline's funeral when Rob could not stop crying, and Rob has not cried since.

Rob begins carving a piece of wood intending to make the tiger but realizes the emerging figure is actually Sistine.

Rob dreams of the tiger running free through the woods with Sistine riding on its back, waving as they disappear.

Rob learns Beauchamp plans either to put the tiger in front of the motel for show or kill it for its coat.

Sistine angrily walks away from Rob when he refuses to share anything personal about his own family in return.

Rob runs after Sistine and tells her that his mother is dead, and together they go to see the tiger.

Sistine's voice softens as she quotes lines from William Blake's poem about a tiger while standing outside the animal's cage.

Sistine tells Rob her parents met at the Sistine Chapel, and Rob whispers his mother's name Caroline aloud for the first time.

After Sistine and her mother drive away, Rob stands alone in the dark quietly repeating his mother's name to himself.

Willie May tells Rob about freeing her parakeet Cricket as a child, and Rob admits he knows something locked in a cage.

Willie May sees the tiger for herself and tells Rob and Sistine the right thing they can do is let it be.

Hearing Willie May say she would love to see the tiger rise from its cage, Rob understands what he must do.

Rob's father holds Rob as both of them cry, admitting they miss and need Caroline but still have each other.

Willie May reveals she told Rob's father about the plan to free the tiger so he could come and protect the children.

Sistine recites as much of William Blake's poem about the tiger as she can remember over the animal's grave.

The Tiger Rising is built on moments of revelation — things that crack open the locked suitcase of Rob's emotions and force him to feel what he has been running from. From the backstory of his father's slap at Caroline's funeral to a dream about a running tiger, Rob's inner world signals its readiness to break free long before he takes action. Conversations with Sistine pull the first confessions out of him, including his mother's name, spoken like forbidden candy in the dark. Willie May's story of her parakeet Cricket and her wish to see the tiger rise connect Rob's grief to the caged animal in a sudden, wordless moment of understanding. When the tiger dies, all of Rob's suppressed fury and sorrow pour out at once, and his father finally breaks open too, weeping and confessing beside the dead animal. The pool closes at the tiger's grave, where Sistine recites Blake's poem and the sun returns — a sign that both children have at last freed themselves.