DEEP in the heart of Korea, orphaned teen Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun) whiles the days away roaming the pristine forests with her cute, cuddly and large - very large - pet pig Okja. The two are clearly devoted to each other, with Okja behaving in much the same way a playful, oversized puppy might. But the idyll, and their happy existence, will soon be shattered by an inconvenient - and much harsher - truth.

Okja is a super-pig, the result of an experiment by the sinister multinational Mirando Corporation, whose decidedly dotty boss Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton) is hell-bent on creating and supplying cheap, genetically modified - and great-tasting food to the world.

After a decade-long contest across the globe to determine a champion pig, Okja is declared the winner and slated to be shipped to Mirando's New York headquarters, where she will be celebrated - and then slaughtered, along with thousands of her kind. Mija, with help from a group of animal activists, has other plans.