在纽约的中央公园里,生活着这样一群无忧无虑的好朋友:狮子亚利克斯、斑马马蒂、长颈鹿麦尔曼以及胖河马格洛丽亚。他们的性格开朗活泼,因此每天的生活都过得丰富多彩。直到有一天,一群流浪的企鹅令斑马马蒂产生了一个大胆的念头,那就是逃出动物园,探寻自己的故乡,寻找新世界。于是,没有通知其他朋友,马蒂悄悄上路了。这下可急坏了朋友们,亚历克斯和其他几个朋友也逃出了中央公园,踏上了寻找马蒂的旅途。At New York's Central Park Zoo, a lion, a zebra, a giraffe, and a hippo are best friends and stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing from their cage, the other three break free to look for him, only to find themselves reunited ... on a ship en route to Africa. When their vessel is hijacked, however, the friends, who have all been raised in captivity, learn first-hand what life can be like in the wild.