 Jack is a three-year-old chimpanzee who has been the subject of a long-term experiment by Dr. Kendall, a researcher who been teaching Jack to communicate through sign language. Jack, however, has not been making progress fast enough for Dr. Kendall s sponsor, Dr. Peabody, who has cut off his funding and sold Jack to a medical research lab. Afraid of what could happen to his simian friend, Dr. Kendall sneaks Jack out of his home in the lab; however, Jack is accidentally sent to Canada, where he gets loose and is discovered by Tara, a deaf girl who recognizes Jack s sign language. Jack has an even bigger surprise for Tara s older brother Steven; Jack scrambles onto the ice in the midst of practice for Steven s junior league hockey team, and he and his teammates discover the monkey has a natural talent for the game. With Jack on the team, Steven s team is on their way to a league championship, but Jack s notoriety attracts the unfortunate attention of Dr. Peabody, who are determined to send Jack back to his new owners.