Keda loses his grip and plummets to a further ledge where he appears to break his leg and is knocked unconscious. Amidst the chaos, the bull rushes towards Keda and tosses him over the edge, leaving him gripping the rough cliff edge with his hand. The hunters eventually reach a herd of steppe bison, which they attempt to stampede off a cliff in relative success.
Kappa is given a memorial service in the form of a cairn to symbolize the passing of one's spirit to the afterlife. Hearing the fatal struggle in the darkness, the tribe gives him up for dead.
One night, the party's fire draws the attention of a large cave lion, which lunges through their circle, snatching Kappa before anyone can do anything. Tau tests Keda by having him kill a wild boar they've caught, but Keda hesitates. His wife Rho worries that Keda is not ready, but Tau believes he is and the hunters set out. Tau, its chief, trains his teenage son Keda, accepting him and Keda's friend Kappa to join the hunting party.
In Upper Paleolithic Europe 20,000 years ago, a small tribe of hunter-gatherers prepare for a hunting expedition to hunt for the coming winter's food.