On a farm in the heart of Africa, a gentle young girl name Jill Young lives happily with her orphaned playmate Joe, a Tanzanian gorilla. As the years cultivate the extrordinary bond between these two unlikely friends, Jill marvels not at Joe's gargantuan 15-foot-tall physique, rather it is Joe's benevolent temperment and capacity to love that astounds her the most. It is only when Joe is brought to civilization that he learns to regard the human race with antipathy.