In a national park in Kenya, English game warden George Adamson and his wife, Joy, care for three orphaned lion cubs. With the couple, Elsa, the smallest of the three, stays after the 2 lions have been shipped off to a zoo in the Netherlands. Head warden John Kendall requires the lion either be sent into a zoo or be trained to survive in the wilds of the Serengeti If Elsa is blamed for causing an elephant stampede at the village.