When Ivan, a gorilla who has lived for years in a down-and-out circus-themed mall, meets Ruby, a baby elephant that has been added to the mall, he decides that he must find her a better life.

Piggie ruins a perfectly good day by telling Gerald the elephant that she is going, sending him into a panic.

"Piggie really likes slop. She likes it so much, she wants Gerald to try some! But can Gerald find the courage to do it? Or will the smell alone be too much to handle?"-- Loving slop, Piggie offers some to Gerald, but he has trouble trying any, with even the smell being too much to handle.

Piggie tells Gerald she has a surprise for him, but it is not there yet, so Gerald must be patient.

Illustrations and easy-to-read text introduce such basic concepts as adjectives, adverbs, daytime, and nighttime as they follow five elephants marching from dawn to dusk.

Gerald is tired and cranky and wants to take a nap, but Piggie is not helping.

Elephants Ed and Kip play with a rolling rock.

Against all odds, a veterinary student and a beautiful circus performer from a bygone era meet and fall in love through their shared compassion for a special elephant. But their secret romance incurs the wrath of her dangerously volatile husband.

"A little girl goes on a long journey to deliver an elephant to her great aunt"--

When the lone rule of the African plains is violated, the task of keeping the fragile peace between predators and prey is left to a cast-out lion, an intuitive elephant, and an honor-seeking baboon.