Sophie, Brittany Bristow, is a teenager whose parents run a zoo. The location is never specified, though the film was shot in Canada, and a TV reporter’s microphone bears a C, hinting at a United States backdrop where Sophie hopes to join the American Ballet Theatre.
Sheba the elephant has been Sophie’s best friend since she was four. When financial trouble forces her parents to sell Sheba to the Winston Family Circus, Sophie is devastated and even offers to give up her dream of ballet to save the elephant, but that doesn’t solve the problem. She heads to the circus to retrieve Sheba.
There, she witnesses trainer Magnus, Thure Riefenstein, mistreating Sheba and demands action. Alistair Winston, who runs the circus his grandfather founded, is being interviewed on live TV, and Sophie's rant catches the attention of a reporter, but Winston tries to quiet her.
Having been accused of animal abuse—an accusation the Winston circus would never admit—Winston hires Sophie as Sheba’s companion, insisting she earns her keep. Magnus has a real problem with Sophie being there; he hates elephants, and there’s a reason for that. And Magnus can train animals; he does a wonderful job with Caesar the black jaguar and genuinely cares for the animal. Magnus actually believes Sheba will put an end to the circus he will be the next to inherit.
Winston disagrees that Sheba is the problem, and when he sees Sophie and Sheba work together, he sees a great opportunity to entertain people. Still, it is not just about caring for anyone there, even though he appears to; he does care about the circus that his family started, but also about making money. His best friend, now and when he was a child, is his ventriloquist dummy CW (named for his grandfather Cornelius Winston), so he has to admit he knows what Sophie is going through.
Sophie's human best friend is Natalia, Erica Durance, a perky acrobat whose hair color changes daily. Natalia can be sad, though, and she does have a terrible incident in her past. Blake, Augustus Prew, used to partner with Natalia in the act but now is the pooper-scooper, and he might be a potential romantic interest for one of the girls.
So will Sophie get her elephant back? Will she join the circus permanently? Will the various problems of the other circus performers be solved?
