Amos McGee is an old zookeeper who goes through the same routine everyday with each of his animal companions. He starts his day by playing chess with the elephant and ends his day by reading to the owl in the evening. When he catches a cold one day his animal companions miss him and visit him at home to spend time with him like they normally do at the zoo. The story ends with everyone spending the night at Amos's house in anticipation of going back to the zoo the following morning.