New Yorker Mitch Robbins has just turned 39 years old, and is having a midlife crisis. His best friends are also having crises of their own: Phil Berquist is stuck managing his father-in-law's grocery store, while trapped in a 12-year sexless marriage with his ruthless wife, Arlene, and Ed Furillo (Bruno Kirby) is a successful sporting-goods salesman and playboy, having recently married an underwear model, but is struggling with the idea of monogamous marriage and the pressure to have kids.
Maggie is the only cow left on the Dixon Ranch after Alameda Slim (a cattle rustler capable of stealing 500 in a single night) stole all the rest of Mr. Dixon's cattle. Dixon sells Maggie to Pearl, a kind and elderly woman who runs a small farm called Patch of Heaven. The local Sheriff arrives to tell Pearl that her bank is cracking down on debtors. Pearl has three days to pay the bank $750, or her farm will be sold to the highest bidder. Hearing this, Maggie convinces the other cows on the farm (Grace, a happy-go-lucky character, and Mrs. Caloway, who has had leadership gone to her head) to go to town to attempt winning prize money at a fair. While the cows are in town, a bounty hunter named Rico (who Buck, the Sheriff's horse, idolizes) drops a criminal off and collects the reward. Stating he needs a replacement horse to go after Alameda Slim while his own horse rests, he takes Buck. When Maggie find out that the reward for capturing Slim is of exactly $750, she convinces the other cows to try to capture him to save Patch of Heaven.
Otis is a carefree cow who prefers to goof off rather than accept responsibility. His adoptive father Ben is the leader of the barnyard when the farmer is away. After Otis interrupts a barnyard meeting with his wild antics, Ben has a talk with his son, warning him that he'll never be happy if he just goofs off, and that he should grow up. Otis ignores his advice and leaves to have fun with his friends Pip the Mouse, Pig the pig, Freddy the Ferret, and Peck the Rooster. That same day, Otis meets a new yet pregnant cow named Daisy, accompanied by another girl cow named Bessy.
The movie starts with a voice-over of Jane Goodale (Ashley Judd) over the images of a scientific experiment with a bull and a herd of cows, apparently the bull never mounts a cow twice, not even if her scent is changed. He prefers a new cow. Jane says that until recently, she believed that men are all like the bull, but to understand what happened we have to go back in time. Jane is a production assistant with a talk show that has recently been syndicated, which means that the host Diane Roberts (Ellen Barkin) who wants to be the best, is always looking for the ungettable guests, like Fidel Castro. Eddie Alden (Hugh Jackman) is the producer of the talk show and is a womanizer, much to the dismay of Jane who comments on his actions with amicable critique.
The film begins as the wizard Zebedee, a red jack-in-the-box-like creature, is having a nightmare about being chased by a rampaging blue jack-in-the-box creature.
Manor Farm is a formerly prosperous farm that has fallen on hard times, and suffers under the now-ineffective leadership of its drunken and aggressive owner, Mr. Jones. One night, Old Major, the prize boar and the second-oldest on the farm, calls the animals on the farm for a meeting, where he compares the humans to parasites and encourages the animals to break free from their tyrant's influence, while reminding them that they must hold true to their convictions after they have gained freedom. With that, he teaches the animals a revolutionary song, before collapsing dead mid-song to the animals' horror.
The story begins by showcasing the close relationship between a middle-aged Iranian villager Masht Hassan and his beloved cow. Hassan is married but has no children. His only valuable property is a cow that he cherishes the only cow in the village.
Un cultivateur cauchois qui vient de perdre sa femme, qu'il aimait beaucoup, croit la reconnaître dans une vache de son cheptel. Il y voit la réincarnation de la défunte et décide de se racheter en faisant mener à l'animal une existence qu'il pense « convenable » mais totalement décalée. L'entourage et le voisinage constatent la perturbation du fermier mais se heurtent à bien des difficultés pour le raisonner.
In 1943 Charles Bailly (Fernandel), a French prisoner of war, decides to escape from the farm in Germany where he works and return to France. He travels through the country, accompanied by his cow, Marguerite. On the way they encounter many people, some sympathetic and some not. The key scene involves Fernandel's character encountering a troop of soldiers on a narrow bridge. The cow won;t turn round to allow them to pass easily and they are forced into single file. Fernandel and the cow pas as if inspecting the troops.
One morning in the magic garden, Dougal the dog is yelling at his cuckoo clock for dropping its pendulum on his bed. He suddenly realises that something strange happened last night, and he takes the train to speak to Zebedee about it. After a talk with Ermintrude (who is standing on the railway track), Brian (who is a bit faster than the train), Dylan (who is watching the mushrooms grow), and Mr. Machenry (who is tending his crops), he finds Zebedee conducting an orchestra of French lollipops. Once the lollipops leave on the train, Dougal tells Zebedee about what happened last night. He got to bed early, because he was tired from all his work. After a few seconds of sleep, he woke up. He got out of bed and heard a loud shriek. It was an owl who said to him "'Allo, cheeky!". Dougal then heard something even more sinister. A voice. After he hears the voice, he hears a second, female voice. They were coming from the old treacle factory, which had been shut down. After observing the scene from a red tree, he hears the female voice again. He returned to his bed and got back to his rest. After the flashback, Zebedee asks Dougal if he was not dreaming. After Dougal asks himself if he's "going dotty", Zebedee bounces away. Dougal then goes to see Florence.