Left on their own to swim the chilly waters after their ship runs aground off the coast of Maine, a group of circus animals stagger onto a nearby island, quickly winning over the wary townspeople with their kind, courageous ways, and when the greedy circus owner returns to claim them, villagers of all species conspire to outsmart him.

Twelve-year-old Chase Masters travels the country with his father, a "storm runner," but he is tested in ways he never could have imagined when he and a new friend are caught in a hurricane near St. Petersburg, Florida.