Nonnie Parker, Reese Witherspoon, is a spirited wildlife advocate determined to follow in her parents' footsteps as a wildlife commissioner fighting Africa's elephant poachers. Against his wishes, spoiled New York City teen Harry Winslow, Ethan Embry, accompanies his father to the Kalahari Desert to spend time with Elizabeth Parker, Patricia Kalember, and Paul Parker, Robert John Burke, Nonnie's parents, where the two clash.
That night, Nonnie and the family dog, Hintza, sneak out of the house to meet her bushman friend, Xhabbo, Sarel Bok. Inside a cave, they spend the night helping Xhabbo recover after he is attacked by a leopard.
At dawn, Nonnie returns to the house to discover that her parents and Harry's father have been murdered for investigating the ivory export, a poaching operation secretly run by Paul Parker's associate, John Ricketts, Jack Thompson. Nonnie hides from the poachers but Ricketts realizes Nonnie and Harry are missing.
Nonnie manages to grab explosives and attach them to the bottom of the poachers' truck, killing several of Ricketts's men. She flees to the cave and Xhabbo advises them to "follow the wind" by heading west across the Kalahari Desert.
> follow the wind
On the edge of the desert, Xhabbo communicates with a herd of elephants and convinces them to cover their tracks by following behind. Harry is furious to learn they have 2,000 kilometers to travel before reaching the seaport of Karlstown, but Nonnie remains optimistic.
Meanwhile, the Parker family’s close friend, Colonel Mopani Theron, Maximilian Schell, learns of the attack. Unaware of Ricketts's involvement, he orders Ricketts to lead an aerial search party to find the missing children. Harry attempts to flag down an approaching plane, thinking they are being rescued, but Nonnie warns they could be poachers and says they should hide.
Harry stuffs their clothes with straw to make fake decoy bodies which they place in the sand. In hiding, the children watch in horror as the plane passengers gun down the straw bodies. Nonnie sees it was Ricketts.
Over the next two months, the runaways dig up plant roots for sustenance, and Xhabbo teaches Harry how to speak his native language and hunt gemsbok. Harry creates a garment of gemsbok fur and gifts it to Nonnie. Theron remains convinced that the Parkers' death was a corporate conspiracy and continues his tireless search for the exporters' store of elephant tusks, which he believes will lead him to the killer.
Nonnie and Harry discover Xhabbo stung by a scorpion. While finding water, Nonnie collapses in the sand. Hearing the hum of Ricketts's approaching helicopter, Nonnie and Xhabbo weakly thump their chests in the spiritual Bushman practice of "tapping", summoning a sandstorm and forcing Ricketts to flee.
Unaware they are only a few hundred yards away from the Atlantic coast, the trio fall unconscious then awaken in a Karlstown hospital. There, Nonnie is reunited with Theron and informs him that Ricketts was responsible for her parents' deaths. Once they recover, Nonnie and Harry accompany him to Ricketts's mining facility, where they find his hoard of elephant tusks. They rig the place with dynamite and, just as Ricketts arrives, they lead him outside and light the fuse. Ricketts runs back into the mine trying to extinguish the flame, but the dynamite explodes and buries him within the mine.
Sometime later, Nonnie and Harry say goodbye to Xhabbo, who returns to the Kalahari. Harry kisses Nonnie before boarding an aircraft home to New York, and she tells him to leave without looking back. However, as Nonnie begins cleaning the charred remains of the Parker home, Harry returns, and they embrace.
