Plot:
Paleontologist Zack takes his nephew Ricky and niece Jade on a fossil hunt, giving the sullen Ricky his Gorgosaurus tooth while he and Jade go to the fossil bed. Alone, Ricky is met by a talking crow, who morphs into Alex the Alexornis bird, who takes the story back to the Cretaceous period 70 million years ago. Patchi is the smallest of his litter of Pachyrhinosaurus hatchlings, and is often bullied by his large, proud older brother Scowler. Their father Bulldust is the leader of the herd. Patchi is attacked by a Troodon and receives a distinctive hole in his frill when he ventures outside the nest one morning. Alex, serving as Patchi's mentor, tries to help Patchi impress a female Pachyrhinosaurus named Juniper, but her herd soon migrates south without him. Bulldust soon follows suit, moving his herd to the south, but when they try to pass through a dense forest, they are forced to flee when a forest fire erupts. Taking advantage of the chaos, Gorgon the predatory Gorgosaurus attacks the fleeing Pachyrhinosaurus, and while his pack kills their mother and siblings, Patchi and Scowler witness Gorgon killing Bulldust.
Major, a former rival of Bulldust's, takes command of the herd following the old leader's death, and combines his herd with Juniper's as they continue their migration. Gorgon's pack attacks them once again in a small valley, and in the ensuing panic, Patchi, Scowler and Juniper fall into the river and are swept downstream to the ocean, with Alex following them from above. At the beach, Scowler follows a herd of Edmontosaurus to find food, callously leaving his younger brother and Juniper behind. Patchi and Juniper make their way through a forest and eventually are able to find their herd and Scowler in a feeding ground.
After years of making the same migration from north to south and vice versa, a now adult Scowler becomes the leader of the herd when he defeats Major in a battle of dominance, and then makes Juniper his mate much to Patci's dismay. Scowler recklessly leads the herd onto a thinly frozen pond, and Patchi is able to lead the majority of the herd to safety. Enraged and believing Patchi to be usurping him, Scowler goads Patchi into a battle for leadership of the herd. The larger Scowler quickly wins and disowns him, and orders the herd (including Juniper) to leave him behind. Despondent and heartbroken over the loss of his herd, his brother and Juniper, Patchi is ready to allow predators to eat him until Alex convinces him to die for something worth dying for as his father did. Reinvigorated, Patchi returns to the herd, and is able to lead them in driving off Gorgon and his pack for good, saving Scowler and breaking Gorgon's arm with the hole in his frill. Scowler reconciles with Patchi and then concedes leadership of the herd to him, and Patchi goes on to have eggs with Juniper one of which hatches and Alex asks for it to be named after him. In the present day, moved by Alex's story, Ricky returns the Gorgosaurus tooth to his uncle and sister, who have unknowingly discovered Gorgon's skull.
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