Jane finds a lost leopard cub and decides to keep it, but Tarzan won't like having a leopard around.

Poachers arrive in the jungle and are setting traps everywhere, so Tarzan warns everyone to be careful. Meanwhile, Terk encourages Tantor to act on his attractions to a female elephant named Dania with a talent for singing. The first date goes well, and though everybody finds Dania perfectly charming, she herself gets off on the wrong foot with Terk. When Terk discovers Tantor would rather spend his time with Dania than her, she plans to break them up, but ends up getting caught in one of the poachers' traps instead. Now Tantor must decide which is more important to him—his relationship with the difficult Dania, or saving his best friend from being kidnapped.

Tarzan and Jane return from a trip to the Waziri village to find the Professor missing and his camp in ruin. Jane momentarily fears the worst, but soldiers on with Tarzan in an attempt to determine her father's whereabouts and condition—a pursuit impeded by the hordes of apparently mad animals, including Terk and Tantor, destroying everything in their path and pleading for the cessation of a mysterious, unheard ringing.

Tarzan's leadership of the gorilla family is challenged by a young silverback male named Moyo. Moyo wins leadership only when Tarzan sacrifices his in the fight in order to save Moyo's life. The new leader leaves with the gorillas to escape the threat of Histah, a giant python that used to terrorize the gorillas when Kala was young, leaving Tarzan to choose what's dearest to him—Jane or the gorillas.

A violent thunderstorm has Tarzan, Jane and the rest of the gorilla family seeking shelter in nearby caves. Along the way, Tarzan feels unsure that he can protect the family as well as Kerchak did. Upon reaching the cave and thinking they are safe, they realize they are in the same cave where Tublat lives in. Tarzan is no physical match for Tublat and must use his superior cunning and ingenuity to defeat him.