As a young elephant, Jumbo is taunted by the other elephants because he
is fatherless. Naturally, Jumbo is curious about his father, and he's
told that his father is a war elephant for the king.
So Jumbo wants to find his father. Still a young elephant, he wanders off in search of his father.
He
is soon captured by a raiding party. In trying to escape from the camp,
the young elephant is befriended by a boy prince, who has been ransomed
to his foes. The prince has the ability to calm Jumbo into thinking
clearly, and Jumbo makes his escape.
A weakened Jumbo then comes
upon a village where humans and elephants are working together. He is
befriended by a beautiful young elephant cow, but is then chained up
until he is tamed. Jumbo soon learns to value the humans who have
captured him. Under the training of a wise, old mahout, he becomes
bigger and stronger.
A local warlord comes around annually to
collect tax from the village, and his taxes have become greedier each
year. The village rebels, and with the humans and elephants working
together, the warlord and his beasts are defeated.
The call then
goes out from the king for elephants for his army. Jumbo is taken to
the palace. There, he is seen by his mother, who calls out to him.
Jumbo goes wild in trying to break free from his chains to meet his
mother. The King notices this, and remembers Jumbo from his childhood.
The king is able to calm Jumbo, and from then on Jumbo serves as the
personal war elephant of the king.
In battle, Jumbo meets a giant
war elephant with fiery eyes that was responsible for the death of
Jumbo's father, and Jumbo gets a chance to acquit himself in battle for
the glory of the kingdom, and take revenge.