Mowgli (Neel Sethi) is an orphan boy who has been raised by wolves deep in the jungle. He speaks, as does his family, including his stand-in mother Raksha (voiced by Lupita Nyong'o), pack leader Akela (voiced by Giancarlo Esposito), and friend Grey (voiced by Brighton Rose), a young wolf cub. He's welcome in the jungle and by the other animals, so long as he, more or less, behaves as one and doesn't use his "man skills" to enhance his life or alter the natural world and animal order around him. Things change when a tiger named Shere Khan (voiced by Idris Elba), whose personal history with man has left him burned and blinded in one eye, declares his intention to prevent Mowgli from growing into a dangerous man. Khan will restrain himself so long as an animal pact of peace made during a challenging dry spell holds, but when the rains come, Khan will come for his prey. When those torrential rains do come, Mowgli decides to leave the jungle to live amongst his own kind rather than endanger everything, and everyone, he holds dear. With the help of the one who found him as a child -- a kindly, learned, and experienced Panther named Bagheera (voiced by Ben Kingsley) -- Mowgli sets off on a perilous journey towards whatever new home awaits him.