This family friendly film is based on the Benjamin Mee memoir of the same name.  It tells the story of how Mee, a widowed father and his family used their life savings to buy a dilapidated zoo and restore it to its former glory.  Although reluctant to take on a zoo and all its animals, he decides to give it a try, delighting his 7-year-old daughter, Rosie, but causing his 14-year-old son, Dylan, to unhappily retreat into his artwork.