After Tohru is taken in by the Soma family, she learns that twelve family members transform involuntarily into animals of the Chinese zodiac and helps them deal with the emotional pain caused by the transformations.

After a family tragedy turns her life upside down, 16 year old high schooler Tohru Honda takes matters into her own hands and moves out...into a tent. Unfortunately for her, she pitches her new home on private land belonging to the mysterious Soma clan, and it isn't long before the owners discover her secret. But, as Tohru quickly finds out when the family offers to take her in, the Somas have a secret of their own--when hugged by the opposite sex, they turn into the animals of the Chinese Zodiac.