Struggling to make ends meet, Mrs. Otter and her son, Emmet, face yet another bleak Christmas until Emmet secretly decides to enter Frog Town Hollow's first annual talent contest.

In Frogtown Hollow live Emmet and Ma Otter, a family with little money but lots of love. With Christmas coming, they want very much to buy each other a store-bought gift, but are barely scraping by doing odd jobs. When a local talent contest offers a special prize. Emmet must make a sacrifice to join his jug band for the competition. Will the jug band prevail or will fierce competition from the Riverbottom Gang steal the show - and the prize?

A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great chef despite his family's wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unwanted visitor in the kitchen of one of Paris' most exclusive restaurants, Remy forms an unlikely partnership with Linguini, the garbage...