| Director | Peter Lepeniotis |
|---|---|
| Genre | adventure film, children's film, comedy film, family film, heist film |
| Runtime | 86 min |
| Country | Canada, United States |
| Budget | $42 million |
| Box office | $120.9 million |
In October 1959, in the fictional town of Oakton City, a squirrel named Surly and his rat partner Buddy reside in Liberty Park where their thieving reputation has made them outcasts from a group of urban animals led by Raccoon and his assistant Cardinal, who are currently running low on food for the upcoming winter. To solve the situation, two squirrels, Andie and Grayson, are assigned to scavenge from a nut cart ran by two men named Lucky and Fingers, who are casing a bank. Andie and Grayson run into Surly and Buddy, who are also trying to rob the cart but their scuffle inadvertently ends with the cart's propane tank exploding in the park and destroying the food supply, resulting in Surly's banishment from the park, much to his dismay.
In the city however, Surly and Buddy find Maury's Nut Shop which is just adjacent to the bank, it is a criminal hideout used by Lucky, Fingers, their boss, Percy "King" Dimpleweed, who was recently released from jail and his assistant Knuckles. They plan to break through the wall and replace the bank's cash with nuts, though King's girlfriend Lana believes that King has gone straight after his release from prison and the nut store is legitimate. Meanwhile, Surly and Buddy plan to rob the place.
At the park, Andie and Grayson head into the city to find more food but they get separated when a street rat approaches and attacks them and Andie is left alone. The next day, Andie comes across the nut shop and confronts Surly, forcing him to share the nuts he plans to take. Surly accepts and unwittingly befriends Fingers' pet pug Precious after threatening her with a dog whistle. Andie returns to the park and informs the community of the plan, to which Raccoon accepts, though planning to deny Surly his share, and assigns Mole and the Bruisers to go with Andie. Grayson returns to the group, having become paranoid after his encounter with the rat, and Surly catches Mole sabotaging the heist, promptly interrogating and learning from Mole of Raccoon's plan to control the food supply in order to remain as the park community's leader. Surly attempts to tell the others but when they don't believe him, he angrily storms off and Buddy stays behind. While collecting the nuts on his own, Surly is captured by King but is freed by Lana, who has found out about his plan to rob the bank.
After fending off the street rats who actually work for Raccoon, Surly and Grayson team up and chase the criminal gang's getaway truck, which carries Raccoon and the others. Surly fights off Raccoon's Cardinal, and Mole defects from Raccoon and reveals the truth to the animals, resulting in Raccoon being voted out of the park community. King and Knuckles use the dynamite inside the empty truck to blow up a police barricade at a dam, but the police shoot a tire on the truck that causes it to fall from the dam. It explodes after Surly gets himself and Andie off it, causing the dam to collapse, a flash flood to happen, and everyone falling into the river below. Surly makes it onto a log, but finds out that Raccoon, King, and Knuckles survived the explosion. Raccoon tries to kill Surly but the weight of nuts and water break the log, sending both of them over a waterfall. The animals arrive to rescue them, but Surly, in a moment of selflessness, lets himself fall into the waterfall with Raccoon. Now seeing the good side of Surly, the group mourns him as they float home in the river.
The nuts flood their way into Liberty Park, where King and his associates are arrested, and Lana breaks up with King, while simultaneously taking ownership of his nut shop. Precious discovers Surly's unconscious body and alerts Buddy, who lays beside him in grief, and speaks for the first time. Surly eventually wakes up and hugs Buddy, with Andie finding him moments later, embracing him and suggesting to tell the other animals of his heroism. However, Surly declines, allowing Grayson and the team to take credit for saving the park, while also agreeing to work with them from now on, and he and Buddy give Andie one last goodbye before going back into the city.
In a mid-credits scene, Raccoon and Cardinal are revealed to still be alive and are plotting revenge, while stuck on a buoy in the ocean, surrounded by hungry sharks circling them to still.