Sunny, the Defenders' best runner, only runs for his father, who blames Sunny for his mother's death, but with his coach's help Sunny finds a way to combine track and field with his true passion, dancing.

Eleven-year-old Whit's parents, zookeepers, rarely allow him to venture outside of the Alabama zoo they run, but he stops seeing it as such a cage when he meets "Bird Girl," for whom the place is a refuge from problems at home. Whit is determined to befriend Bird Girl and help her when she needs an important favor from him.