A family is living in Africa for several months because of science? I think? Whatever, the two children find a cheetah cub whose mother was killed by poachers. Skip a few months and the kids are getting ready to go back to the U.S. and they are trying to figure out what to do with the cheetah that somehow hasn't eaten them all.

Long story short, some very questionably racist portrayals of ethnic people capture the animal to rig greyhound races. The kids skip their flight and travel the serengeti to get their friend back. I'm pretty sure everyone in this movie should be dead from any number of causes.