At the very heart of Britain’s capital, London’s Tower, Balthazar Jones carries out his difficult service as a royal guard—an enforcer, a “beefeater.” He is the keeper of a famous ancient fortress and, additionally, a tour guide. There, in the Tower, he also lives—with his Greek wife and a tortoise aged one hundred and eighty-one years. But one fine day, he is appointed keeper of the royal menagerie, which is planned to be housed in the Tower, since exotic animals are constantly being presented to the queen as gifts. That’s how penguins, giraffes, and komodo dragons enter the life of a beefeater—yet the commotion they cause is nothing compared to what’s going on in Balthazar Jones’s soul…