At New York's Central Park Zoo, a lion (Stiller), a zebra (Rock), a giraffe (Schwimmer) & a hippo (Pinkett Smith) are best friends & stars of the show. But when one of the animals goes missing, the other 3 escape to look for him, only to find them reunited on a ship en route to the island of Madagascar. When their ship capsizes off the coast, however, the friends, who have all been raised in captivity, learn first-hand what life in the wild can be like.