Born to Be Wild plot
"What do you do when your best friend's a 400-pound gorilla? Anything she likes."
Rick is a juvenile delinquent who keeps getting into trouble. To keep him out of that trouble, his mother puts him to work. She is a veterinarian and has found a nice job for Rick: cleaning the cage of Katie, a gorilla, that she takes care of every day. She teaches Katie to communicate through sign language. Then Katie's owner announces that he's coming to get her to act as an attraction at carnivals. Rick helps Katie escape and tries to take her out of the country.