Feeling the depressing effects of a gloomy English summer, the Durrell family decides to pack up and move to the Greek island of Corfu. Lead by their widowed mother, 13-year old future naturalist Gerald Durrell, his two older brothers and older sister move into a series of villas. Gerald indulges his passion for nature by filling his room with local fauna, while his brothers fill their time with writing or hunting and his sister sunbathes and flirts.