Three farmers — Boggis, Bunce, and Bean — are introduced as cruel, greedy men who own neighboring farms in a valley.

Mr. Fox and his family are introduced living in a hole under a tree, with Mr. Fox stealing food nightly from the farms.

The three farmers ambush Mr. Fox outside his burrow and shoot off his tail as he escapes.

The farmers begin digging out the fox burrow with hand shovels, forcing the family to dig deeper underground.

The farmers bring in two tractors with mechanical shovels and excavate the entire hill into a massive crater.

The three farmers swear a solemn oath not to return to their farms until Mr. Fox is caught and killed.

The farmers station over one hundred armed men around the hill and set up camp to starve the foxes out.

After three days of starvation underground, Mr. Fox forms a plan to tunnel directly into the farmers' storehouses.

The fox family tunnels up through the floor into Boggis's Chicken House Number One and steals three fat hens.

Mr. Fox and his children encounter Badger underground, who reveals that all the neighboring animal families are trapped and starving.

Mr. Fox's group tunnels into Bunce's Mighty Storehouse and takes ducks, geese, hams, bacon, and vegetables.

Mr. Fox and his companions dig through a brick wall and break into Bean's Secret Cider Cellar.

A large woman descends the stairs into Bean's cellar to retrieve cider jars, threatening to expose the hiding animals.

The animals escape Bean's cellar and carry stolen cider jars back through the tunnels to their waiting families.

All the animal families hold a grand feast underground while the three farmers sit obliviously in the rain above.

The story opens by introducing three cruel, greedy farmers — Boggis, Bunce, and Bean — who despise Mr. Fox for stealing from their farms to feed his family. When the farmers ambush Mr. Fox, shoot off his tail, and excavate his burrow with tractors, the Fox family is forced deep underground. The farmers then station over a hundred armed men around the hill and camp outside the tunnel entrance, intending to starve the foxes out. Refusing to surrender, Mr. Fox leads his family in tunneling directly into the farmers' own storehouses, stealing food from all three farms in turn. He also discovers that neighboring animals — Badger, Rabbit, Weasel, and Mole — are equally trapped underground, and invites them all to a grand feast. While the farmers sit foolishly in the rain waiting for Mr. Fox to appear, the animals celebrate underground and Mr. Fox declares they will never need to go outside again.

The core story of Mr. Fox outwitting the three farmers.

Local children sing a well-known rhyme calling Boggis, Bunce, and Bean 'horrible crooks' who are equally mean.

Mrs. Fox requests two fat ducks from Bunce's farm on the very night the farmers have planned their ambush.

Mr. Fox cautiously emerges from his hole, spots a glint of a gun behind a tree, and darts back inside.

Mrs. Fox tends to Mr. Fox's wound, leaving him with only a stump where his tail once was.

Mrs. Fox calls her husband a 'fantastic fox' after he saves the family by digging away from the farmers' shovels.

Villagers come to stare at the enormous crater left by the farmers and laugh at the extreme lengths they have gone to.

The farmers deliberately cook food and waft the smells down the tunnel entrance to taunt the starving fox family.

Mrs. Fox grows too weak from hunger and exhaustion to join the digging expedition and stays behind.

The famished foxes discover a water trough in Boggis's chicken house and drink desperately after days without water.

The oldest fox child delivers three stolen hens to Mrs. Fox, who initially believes she must be dreaming.

A small fox requests carrots from Bunce's storehouse, explaining they are not for the foxes but for the rabbits.

Badger questions whether stealing is wrong, and Mr. Fox argues that taking food to survive is nothing like trying to kill someone.

Rat appears through a gap in Bean's cellar wall, angrily declaring the cider cellar his private territory.

The woman in the cellar hesitates over a third cider jar — the very one behind which Mr. Fox and his child are hiding.

After escaping the cellar, Mr. Fox carefully replaces every brick in the wall to conceal the animals' entry point.

Behind the main events lies a rich tapestry of smaller moments that deepen the world and raise the stakes. The opening rhyme mocking the farmers and Mrs. Fox's nightly dinner requests establish the rhythm of danger before the ambush even begins. The damage wrought by the farmers is felt intimately — in Mrs. Fox's growing exhaustion, the family's desperate thirst in the tunnels, and the villagers' mockery of the ruined hillside. As Mr. Fox tunnels deeper into the farms, quieter moments of humor and moral tension emerge: a fox cub asking for carrots on behalf of the rabbits, Badger's uneasy conscience about stealing, and Rat's grumpy cameo in Bean's cellar. The pool closes with the woman in the cellar nearly selecting the very jar concealing Mr. Fox, before he makes his escape and seals every brick behind him.

The overlooked details and supporting moments that bring the story to life.

Bean proposes that the three farmers cooperate and stake out Mr. Fox's burrow together to ambush him.

The three farmers position themselves downwind of Mr. Fox's hole specifically so their scent will not reach him.

The fox family goes to bed hungry for the first time after surviving the nighttime shooting ambush.

Mr. Fox hears scraping sounds in the night and realizes the farmers are already digging out the family's burrow.

Bean suggests using tractor-mounted mechanical shovels after an entire night of manual digging proves completely useless.

Boggis shouts triumphantly into the fox hole that Mr. Fox has 'had his last chicken' during the excavation.

Mr. Fox observes his starving children's undefeated courage deep in the tunnel and silently resolves not to let them down.

Mr. Fox reveals his plan requires more digging and his children eagerly volunteer despite their hunger and exhaustion.

The animals discover that Bunce's storehouse holds thousands of ducks and geese, far exceeding anything Mr. Fox had ever stolen.

Badger confronts Mr. Fox underground and blames him directly for the destruction of the forest and all the animals' suffering.

Mr. Fox admits fault to Badger but promises he has a plan that will solve everything for all the animal families.

Mr. Fox warns Badger and his smallest child to stay completely silent in Bean's cellar, which sits directly beneath the farmhouse.

Rat sits on a high shelf drinking cider through a rubber straw and angrily complains about the unwanted visitors.

The animals overhear Mrs. Bean's voice from above directing someone to fetch cider, and learn that Bean wants Mr. Fox's tail as a trophy.

Mr. Fox announces to the feasting animals that the tunnel network means none of them ever need to go above ground again.

Every major shift in the story is driven by a decision made or a truth revealed. Bean's scheme to unite the three farmers sets the deadly conflict in motion, while the sound of scraping in the night marks the moment Mr. Fox grasps the true scale of the threat against his family. As starvation takes hold underground, Mr. Fox draws fresh resolve from watching his children's courage and commits to a bold new plan. Confronted by a furious Badger, Mr. Fox accepts responsibility for the animals' suffering and promises a solution that will protect everyone. The tension peaks in Bean's cellar, where the animals overhear Mrs. Bean's voice from above and discover that Bean wants Mr. Fox's own tail as a trophy. The story closes with Mr. Fox's triumphant declaration that the tunnel network has permanently freed the animals from the dangers of the surface world.