11-year-old Nim (Abigail Breslin) lives with her widower marine biologist father Jack Rusoe (Gerard Butler) on a South Sea Islands island. Jack has told Nim that her mother Emily was swallowed by a blue whale after it was scared by a ship called ''The Buccaneer''. Nim has several native animals for company: Selkie the sea lion, Fred the bearded dragon, Chica the sea turtle, and Galileo the pelican.