In the very heart of the British capital, the Tower of London, Balthazar Jones carries out his difficult service as a royal guardsman-beefeater. He is the guardian of the famous ancient fortress and part-time tour guide. There, in the Tower, he lives, together with his Greek wife and a tortoise one hundred and eighty-one years old. But one fine day he is appointed caretaker of the royal menagerie, which is planned to be housed in the Tower, since the queen is endlessly presented with exotic animals as gifts. This is how penguins, giraffes and Komodo dragons invade the life of a beefeater, but the worries they cause are mere trifles compared to what is going on in the soul of Balthazar Jones...