In the middle of Africa, there is a lion farm managed by the Owen family. They have recently
moved here from London, and the eldest daughter Mia is not happy about it because she misses her
friends. She also avoids spending time with the animals, not even wanting them in the same room
as her, unlike her brother Mick, whose mental health is poor. Mia keeps getting in trouble at
school because she has no friends, which worries her mother Alice, but it only makes her father
John angry. He tries to point out to her how lucky she is to live in such a beautiful place,
but Mia doesn't listen. One night, Mick is having sleep terrors again, so Alice tells him a story
to help him calm down. It's the tale of the shaman of the Shangaan people, who predicted the miracle
of a white lion being born on Christmas. Such a miracle actually happens when Christmas arrives at
the Owen household and John shows up with a white lion cub they name Charlie. The chances of a white
lion are one in a million, so Charlie's presence on the farm will be big to attract more tourists,
but Mia ignores him too. Later, Mia tries to videochat with a friend from England,
but he is busy so he can't keep her company right now, which makes Mia cry. Charlie comes
over and tries to comfort her, and Mia does smile when she finally dares to pet the little guy,
but she denies liking it when Mick teases her for it. Things get annoying for her
again when she's trying to practice soccer outside and Charlie comes to steal her ball,
bursting it. Mia picks Charlie up and takes him inside to her family, complaining all the way and
getting angry when John tries to distract her with the pancakes maid by the maid, Jodie. One morning,
Mick falls asleep while feeding Charlie, so the lion goes to bother Mia instead. She's hesitant
at first, but eventually, Charlie wins her over and as she takes on the duty of feeding him,
the two of them bond. From then on, Mia begins playing with Charlie and Mick every day.
By the time Charlie turns four months old, he's doubled his size and become Mia's best friend.
He's also learned how to follow her orders to a tee, becoming a well-trained pet. Alice can't help
noticing that Mia is still sleeping with Charlie, so she reminds her soon the lion will have to stay
outside - he'll be too big to be inside and, most importantly, too dangerous. One night,
Mia is reading with a flashlight under the covers a book about lions. Something about the
setup bothers Charlie and he starts pawing at Mia, but she isn't scared and knows it's just a test.
This connection with Charlie inspires Mia to begin visiting the other animals on the farm too, so she
starts joining her dad when he goes out on his feeding rounds. She takes the chance to ask John
how the farm makes money, so he explains that once the guesthouse is ready, they'll get the attention
of tourists, filmmakers, and researchers; they also sell lions to zoos and other breeders. Mia
forbids John from ever selling Charlie, but John doesn't care and reminds her that a lion will
always be wild, never a pet. Sometime later, Mia is leaving for two weeks on a school trip,
so Charlie needs to stay in his enclosure. One of the farm employees picks him up to take him there,
and Charlie scratches him in protest. Mia wants to stay and help but she can't be late,
so the employee uses a chain to pull Charlie into the enclosure with his friends. During the trip,
Mia misses her lion too much and is distracted, not even paying attention during the soccer match
she's part of. Charlie misses her as well, so he stops washing and eating while she's gone,
and he doesn't defend himself from other lions either. Mia's class goes on an excursion to
abandoned prison that makes Mia think of the farm enclosures. Unable to stand the idea of
Charlie being locked up, she decides to escape from her teachers and hitchhike her way home.
By the time Alice gets a call from the school to inform her what's happened, Mia is already back,
feeding Charlie and singing for him. When Charlie turns one year old, he's bigger than Mia,
yet he still likes to lie down on top of her. Jodie sees this and worries about her safety,
but Mick tells her it's fine because Mia has her lion enchanted. However, Charlie's bigger
size also brings trouble: now he can reach the dinner table and steal their food directly from
the serving bowls. He's also eaten the tv, and likes to chase the animals Mick takes care of.
John yells at Mia for the mess that is in the house and orders her to keep Charlie outside.
One afternoon, Mia is watching some lion documentaries and gets a call from his
friend in England, so this time, she's the one that turns him down. Suddenly,
some screaming can be heard outside, and Mia runs out to discover Charlie has scratched a tourist.
This is his first time surrounded by so many people and he got scared, so Mia tries to explain
that, making a scene in front of everyone because her father won't listen. One of the employees
takes the tourists away to walk the trail while an angry John drags Mia back inside, reminding her
that the farm needs to make a profit to be able to help the lions before sending her to her room.
The next day, John is visited by Dirk, who is a little too flirty and touchy with Alice. He
wants to do some business with the lions, but John informs him he doesn't want to work with
him anymore. Mia still spends time with Charlie, but from on it's always outside in his enclosure.
One afternoon, Alice notices Mia's arms are covered with scratches and asks her not to
play with Charlie anymore. Mia refuses, explaining the lion is just learning to control his claws and
their relationship is based on trust. To prove her point, Mia lets Charlie jump on her from behind,
which is usually against the rules. This gives Alice a scare, but they're just playing around.
In the evening, the family goes out together for dinner, and Mia doesn't lock the enclosure well,
so Charlie escapes while they are away. The reason the family is celebrating is that the farm is
finally making an actual profit. Their grandfather hadn't done a good job taking care of the farm,
so the family had lived in London for a while until they were ready to return. When the family
gets back to the farm and sees the door open, John immediately calls his employees to go looking for
Charlie. Mia isn't allowed to go with them, but as soon as they leave, she sneaks out to search too.
The fence has a new lock that Mia can't open so she considers climbing over, but Mick shows
up and reminds her the fence is electric. She doesn't need to worry though, because Mick has the
solution: he calls for one of his elephant friends and makes it break the lock with its huge paw.
The siblings enter the wild area and easily find Charlie, who turns out has escaped to rescue one
of Mic's pets. One of the employees finds them too and takes pity on the kids, allowing them
to return to the house before John also finds them. Time passes and at the age of two, Charlie
is a fully grown lion. Ignoring her father's orders, Mia keeps on spending time with the lion,
even playing music for him in an old car. One afternoon, she convinces Mick to join her in the
enclosure, and things go well until Alice sees them. She begins yelling and asks John to come
with his tranquilizer gun, this scares Charlie and makes him accidentally push Mick to the ground.
The boy hits his head and a doctor has to come over to check on him - fortunately, it
isn't anything serious, but the parents have had enough, especially when Mia tells them this isn't
Charlie's fault but theirs for scaring him. John wants to sell Charlie, but Alice thinks that will
destroy Mia, so he agrees to keep him only as long as Mia doesn't enter the enclosure ever again.
A year later, Alice and Mick are coming back from therapy, but Mick is in a worse mood than usual
because they've changed his doctor. Mia wants to know more about what Mick is going through, but
Alice refuses to share, so she goes to see Mick herself. To make him feel better, Mia tells him he
isn't useless and reminds him of how many animals he's helped, then takes him outside to show him
her secret. Sneaking into the enclosure, Mia plays with Charlie, who she's visited every day behind
her father's back. Mia tells Mick that the tale is true: there's something special about white lions,
and one day both Charlie and Mick will be free. To keep this memory with him, Mick records it all
with his phone. That evening, the siblings get a laugh when another one of Mick's pets gives Jodie
a scare by appearing inside one of her pots. It's a lovely family moment that John wants
to record, so he takes Mick's moment to do so and accidentally finds the video of Mia with Charlie.
Furious to see his rules broken, John decides he'll sell Charlie to the first buyer.
Charlie is moved to a different enclosure with the other wild lions, and Mia goes to
see him to promise him she'll rescue him later. She ends up falling asleep against the fence,
so the next morning, she wakes up to find John and the employees arriving in a truck.
They put a lioness to sleep to be sold, and Mia takes the chance to climb on top of the trunk
and follow them to discover where the lions are taken to. When they make it to the destination,
Mia is disgusted to find out the truth behind these sales: Dirk runs a business where tourists
can pay to shoot a lion in a safe space and keep the trophy. John is ashamed of being there too,
but Dirk doesn't let him play nice and reminds him it's his business that allows John to keep
the farm. Not having much of a choice, John promises Dirk he'll bring Charlie in two days.
When Mia returns home, she does some research on the internet and finds out this is how many
sanctuaries in Africa legally operate to survive: they sell one to save a dozen. The knowledge her
father has been doing this haunts her, and she can't even look him in the eye during dinner,
so she leaves without eating. Mick goes to check on her and Mia tells him the truth because he's
the only one she can talk to. She's also decided she wants to escape with Charlie and take him to
the Timbavati Game Reserve, a refugee for white lions, and Mick accepts to help her.
He quickly plans a trip for Mia: there'll be two days by car, then she'll have to continue on foot
for five or six days. Mia takes as much food as she can in her bag, and Mick decides to give him
all his savings as well. Mia escapes while everyone is sleeping and is found by Jodie,
but she isn't there to scold her - she's there to help. Jodie gives Mia the keys to the enclosure,
so now she's able to free Charlie and they can run away together. Before leaving though, she also
frees a bunch of other animals. This way, when her family wakes up the next morning, they'll be
locked inside until the employees arrive to help, earning Mia an advantage in time and distance. As
soon as the animals are back in their enclosures, John goes looking for Mia in his truck,
and Mick sends Mia a message to warn her. This is the part of the plan: when John finds them,
he's distracted by Charlie, so Mia approaches him from behind and steals the tranquilizer gun.
After calling him out for his lies and his lack of will in changing the world, Mia puts her dad
to sleep with a dart and steals the truck. Now Charlie can safely travel in the back without
being seen. Mia sends a text to Mick to tell him of John's location so he can be rescued,
and John wastes no time in calling the police. So when Mia stops by a gas station to refill the tank
and get some food, she has to get out quickly before the clerk notices her face on the news.
The police also put roadblocks in Newlands, so Mick calls Mia to warn her she needs to get off
the highway. This causes Mia to make a sudden, dangerous turn on the road to avoid the cops,
ending up in the middle of a humble town. When she almost falls asleep behind the wheel,
Charlie tries to check on her, and her frustration causes her to break down and ask the lion to kill
her already. Charlie calms her down with a quick swipe of his paw, and then the two of them fall
asleep on top of the truck while watching the stars. Meanwhile, John gets a call from Dirk
demanding to know where Charlie is, so John tells him the lion isn't for sale anymore. The next day,
Dirk shows up at the farm because he's seen the news, so he threatens with finding Charlie first.
Desperate not to let him get there first, especially when he's informed that the police
have been given permission to shoot, John takes Mick and Alice with him to join the search. Back
to Mia, she finishes the driving part of the trip with bad news: the map she's been using is old,
and the area she's supposed to cross now has been taken over by a shopping mall.
Since she doesn't have options, Mia pulls a risky move and takes Charlie out of the truck
to make him enter the mall with her. Everyone is scared of the lion so they stay away from them,
and this allows them to easily find the back door and finally make their way into the wilderness.
Charlie is happy to be in the wild and even begins hunting, which allows Mia to save some meat for
later. After Mia spends a night sleeping on top of a tree, Dirk catches up with them and tries
to capture them, but Charlie attacks Dirk and scares off the tourist that wanted to buy him.
After the pair escapes, Mia's family arrives, and John orders Dirk not to show his face again.
Alice is confused by all this so John finally confesses that Mia knows about the hunting.
An argument ensues because accidentally seeing a kill was what traumatized Mick the last time and
made them flee to London, so John had promised it wouldn't happen again. To stop their parents
from arguing, Mick tells them Mia is taking Charlie to the Shangaan people's reserve.
The trip begins to take a toll on Mia, who is sunburned and has run out of provisions.
When they finally make it to Timbavati, he can't move anymore, so Charlie must cross the last
stretch alone. Unfortunately, her family and the cops arrive as well, and they're ready to shoot.
Remembering his daughter's words, John decides he does want to change the world
and puts himself between Charlie and the cops, allowing the lion to cross the bridge and enter
the reserve where he legally can't be hurt. Mia reunites with her family, and months later,
they visit the reserve together to watch Charlie be happy with his new babies.
The number of lions in Africa has gone down a 90% in the last hundred years. They aren't considered
an endangered species, but at this speed, they'll disappear from nature in twenty years.