Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) is a journalist and newly single father living in the city with his two children, Rosie (Maggie Elizabeth) and Dylan (Colin Ford). The loss of their mother due to illness still hurts them deeply.
When Dylan is expelled from school after several incidents, Benjamin decides to make a fresh start. Away from here, out of the city.
He visits a house with a large plot of land in the countryside; far away from the usual urban environment. When he learns that it is a private zoo, he decides, after an initial reaction to the contrary, finally for the purchase with the plan to prepare the zoo for the public.