Twelve-year old Jodie Jackson goes on a school excursion to Driftwood Island. They go on bush walks through the rainforest and swim in crystal blue lakes.
Jodie sleeps in a tent with her best friend Sarah Chan and one afternoon they spot a mother dingo with two pups. One of the pups is limping.
Jodie finds a teddy bear in the car park and gives it to Andrea, who was teased because she had brought her own teddy bear to camp.
Jodie helps Teela, the senior ranger, try and save a beached dolphin but sadly it dies. Teela tells her a story about dolphins and living in Lemeuria.
Jodie and her friends go on a boat to see the whales and she finds some more teddy bears and some white tubes hidden in the bottom of the boat.
When they arrive back at shore, one of the girls goes off by herself to collect a piece of driftwood, and a dingo starts to stalk her. The teacher tries to help but falls over, so Jodie and her friends run over as a group, shouting and screaming and rescue her.
When Jodie stubs her toe on a tent peg, and can't walk to the shipwreck, she accompanies Teela on her ranger duties. At the Resort, Jodie notices two men having an argument, and one of them drops a box filled with the same white tubes. Later she sees the same men at the creek at the Old Village where they act suspiciously.
Jodie and Maddie drive to a historic cabin and discover some boxes containing white tubes, and Maddie is bitten by a snake. Jodie tries to call for help on her two-way but can't get reception. She tries to drive the jeep to the main road but the same two men appear and Jodie convinces them to drive Maddie back to the Ranger's Office. They leave her at the shack.
Jodie notices a reptile coming out of one of the white tubes and finds more reptiles in other tubes, and realizes the men are wildlife smugglers. She releases the reptiles in the bush and the men return so she hides. They discover her and are angry at her for releasing the animals and they tie her up and leave with a baby dingo that they had captured.
One of the men drops a cigarette and a fire starts. Jodie struggles to free herself but one of the men returns and releases her and puts out the fire. Together they drive back and notify the rangers that the other man is boarding a ferry with the baby dingo.
The police arrest both men and Jodie is praised for her assistance with the smugglers. Teela promises to look after the rescued baby dingo.
