Flora is a circus elephant who can no longer perform her tricks. The night before she's scheduled to be euthanized, the circus owner's 14-year old daughter, Dawn, sneaks Flora from the circus. All that stands between them and the safety of the elephant preserve is two hundred kilometers of woods, one raging river, two elephant hunters and the fear of not making it.
A boy, Jeff, comes upon a runaway elephant while fishing. He has adventures taking the elephant to show his father, and the elephant ends up helping save the father’s life.
The story of the birth of the exploitation of wild animals, the fruit of the iron twinning between the Industrial Revolution and the omnipotent and arrogant logic of colonialism, told through the multiple tribulations of Fritz, an Asian elephant who, one hundred and fifty years ago, worked in the largest circus in the world.
An old farm dog recounts the true tale of Old Bet, the elephant at the start of the American circus. Their mournful melody is hand-crafted using painterly clay-on-glass and oil pastel animation.
When the circus arrives they put the lion's cage right over Bugs' rabbit hole.
Based on the book by Maud and Miska Petersham about the story of the baby elephant in the circus, showing the futile attempts of his mother to train him to eat at the table like the baby clown
