Eliza Thornberry leads a fairly wild life for a young girl. She travels all over the world meeting animals with her filmmaker parents, her sarcastic sister, her jungle-boy adopted brother and her best friend, Darwin the chimp. Eliza has a very special secret though--she can talk to animals. It has allowed her to make friends with all kinds of animals but her gift must be kept secret or Eliza will lose it forever.

This secret and Eliza's spirit is put to the test when her young cheetah friend, Tally, is taken by poachers. Eliza's rescue attempt nearly gets her killed so her parents send her to boarding school in England for her own safety. Now Eliza must find a way back to Africa to save Tally before it's too late.