A nameless baby elephant-steer was just getting used to life in the herd, when poachers kill his mother, so he runs and gets lost. He's found by a grouchy female, Groove, the sister of an alpha-female, who walks off disgusted with life in her herd. Not exactly wholehearted, she still takes the orphan under her wing, 'til we find your herd', but fails to find his herd, or a new home with males—who find him disrespectful and mouthy—or her own herd, which nicknames the kid Whispers since his trumpeting is so weak. Meanwhile the fear of poachers and (in the movie) lions drives them north over the great river, a long and dangerous journey...