With the animals' homes being destroyed by man, all of the animals of Farthing Wood meet in Badger's earth to try to find a way to survive. The latecomer Toad, suggests that they all journey to a nature reserve called White Deer Park, where he had passed by on his journey home. The animals eventually all agree to make the journey to this new haven once they take the ancient Wood Oath, of Mutual Protection. This Oath meant that everyone promised not to eat or frighten each other. Fox is assigned as their leader and it is agreed that they will meet by the Great Oak at midnight to begin their long journey.

When their only means of water is filled in the animals all meet by the Great Oak to begin their long journey to White Deer Park. While performing a head count Badger discovers that Mole is late. He eventually shows up and the animals begin their journey. They stop at a human's swimming pool to quench their thirst but they make too much noise in their excitement and wake up the human's cat. Fortunately the cat is too fat to fit through it's flap so the animals escape with out being caught.

The Newts are finding the journey more difficult than the others so when they come across a large lake, they decide to make it their new home. After saying their goodbyes the rest of the animals continue on their journey. After crossing to the other side of the lake Weasel announces that she can smell fire. Soon the other animals spot smoke in the distance, gaining on them. Fox's instincts kick in and he begins to run away from the fire but he has to overcome them when Toad is missing. He has been left behind and its up to Fox to go back and rescue him. Toad is rescued by Fox but Badger discovers that mole is missing. He has been picked up by a fire fighter and placed inside his pocket. Badger heads back and rescues him. It is then that they realise that the Newts have died in the blaze. They are the first of the animals to lose their lives on the journey.

With most of the animals too tired to care where they rest they shelter in an empty barn. But Fox is wary about being near humans and sets up a watch to alert them of danger. However when Mrs Pheasant takes the place of her sleeping husband she wanders out of the barn and is killed by the farmer's gun. With the sound of the gun the animals try to escape but they are locked inside the barn with a dog patrolling outside. Some of the animals manage to gnaw and dig an escape route allowing them all to escape into a nearby wood. However it is when they are all safe and the panic over that Fox realises that one of them is missing.

When the normally cowardly Mr Pheasant offers to go back and look for Adder on the farm he is shocked to find that his wife has been made into the farmer's dinner. It is then that he too gets shot. The other animals hear the gun shot and realise what has happened so Owl volunteers and flies over to the farm in search of Adder. Owl finds Adder and they catch up with the rest of the animals and continue on the journey. While crossing a river, the rabbits panic in the water so Fox jumps in to save them. However in their panic they try to climb onto him and put him in danger as well. Badger swims in to help the exhausted Fox and keep him afloat. While the rabbits are taken to safety a large log, floating down stream strikes Fox and Badger.

After the incident crossing the river, Badger is spotted still alive but caught in some reeds. Toad, Hare and weasel swim over to help Badger get untangled before they all swim back to land. Fox is nowhere to be found so Kestrel files downstream to see if she can find him. She sees him lying on the log heading under a bridge but as the log appears on the other side Fox is no longer there. Badger is assigned as the new leader and to add to matters Toad forgets which way to go. Owl suggests this is because his homing instincts have come into play. Hare and Vole inform Badger that Mrs. Fieldmouse has given birth to her young. Badger suggests that the animals should stop to rest for the time being.

After finding himself on a log floating downstream Fox jumped aboard a boat that ended up in a town. As he sees humans surrounding him he jumps out and escapes into the town. Frightened by the bustle of the town in daylight he looks for somewhere to hide. He meets a cat called Tom and hunts rats for him in return for shelter. However when he finds a box to sleep in it is lifted by a truck, which heads out of the town, so Fox takes his chance and escpapes into a nearby field. Here he is greeted by a friendly Horse who warns him about the hunt in this area. Finding himself an empty den he goes inside for a rest. But soon he is woken by the movement of another fox, a Vixen. Meanwhile, back with the other animals, the fieldmice's new born babies have been eaten by a butcher bird.

Now that he has met the lovely Vixen, Fox is in his element. He asks Vixen if she will be his mate. But she tells him he that must prove himself to her first but does agree to help him get back to the other animals. They eventually find that the animals have taken two paths. The two foxes each take a path and agree that whosever is on the wrong path will head back to join the other. While following their own path both Fox and Vixen hear the cry of the hunt and it is on the trail of Vixen. Fox makes it halfway up to the top of a steep hill where the rest of the animals are but runs back down to draw the hunt away from Vixen. He succeeds but only for a while as they give up when he escapes back up the hill. Fox is devastated to realise that poor Vixen may not make it as she is exhausted and collapses. A huntsmen is edging his horse on to trample on her when all of a sudden Adder appears. She bites the horse's leg, causing it to rear back and stumble down the hill, letting Vixen escape to

After escaping the Hunt for now the animals come across a large quarry. It is here that they meet Whistler, a great blue heron. A name he received because of the wind whistling through a bullet hole in his wing when he flies. Whistler saves Toad's life when a carp fish catches Toad in it's mouth, when Toad tries to compete against Whistler's fishing. Whistler fetches the carp from the water and returns Toad to the other animals. Whistler then joins the animals on their journey.

A busy motorway lies ahead of the animals. All of the animals are hesitant to cross it because of the dangers involved. Most want to find another way around but the sound of the Hunting horn can be heard in the distance. They have to cross the motorway. They split into groups and take it in turns to cross. The larger animals like Fox and Badger help the smaller animals along and Whistler carries the fieldmice, the voles and the shrews to the other side in his beak. It is only the prickly hedgehogs who can not be carried over. The hedgehogs try to cross the road but their instincts get the better of them and they curl up when they see a car heading towards them and they unfortunately die.