Peter throws a toy soldier into the woods to distract Pax, then drives away with his father, abandoning the fox.

Peter packs a backpack with supplies and his mother's phoenix bracelet and secretly sets out to find Pax.

Peter falls over a root in the dark woods and breaks his leg, unable to continue on his own.

A woman named Vola, a former medic with a wooden leg, discovers Peter in her cabin and examines his injury.

Gray, an older fox who once lived with humans, agrees to travel south with Pax to help him search for Peter.

Peter staggers back to Vola's cabin in the rain and begs her to help him grow strong enough to find Pax.

Gray steps on a landmine while traveling with Pax and dies slowly as Pax keeps watch beside him.

Runt follows Pax and Bristle and jumps on a tripwire, triggering a mine explosion that costs Runt one leg.

Peter performs a surprise puppet show for Vola, secretly casting her as the main character of the story.

Peter uncrumples a newspaper and reads a headline revealing the war has reached the area where Pax was left.

Peter counters Vola's plan with three conditions of his own before accepting her offer to take the bus.

A soldier at a military guard station lets Peter pass after learning Peter left someone he loves behind.

Peter finds a dismembered fox leg and the toy soldier he once threw for Pax and screams Pax's name.

Pax calls back from the ridgeline when Peter screams his name, and the two reunite on the hillside.

Peter swings his crutches to scare off two coyotes attacking the foxes, then releases Pax to live wild.

Peter's father forces him to abandon his beloved fox Pax at the side of the road before leaving for war. Heartbroken, Peter sets out on a nearly 300-mile quest to find Pax, only to break his leg and take shelter with a reclusive former medic named Vola. While Peter recovers and grows strong enough to travel, Pax journeys south with an older fox named Gray, who is eventually killed by a landmine. Pax's young companion Runt also loses a leg to a mine explosion, raising the stakes of the war's hidden destruction. Peter eventually makes his way through the war zone, finds the toy soldier he once threw for Pax, and screams his fox's name in anguish and hope. Their reunion ends with Peter scaring off coyotes and releasing Pax to live freely in the wild with his new fox family.

The essential journey of Peter and Pax from separation to reunion.

Peter's father drops Peter at his grandfather's house and drives away to join the war.

Peter discovers a cookie tin containing a photo of his father as a young boy with a beloved dog.

Peter writes a deceptive note to his grandfather pretending he will return the same evening.

Pax waits at the exact roadside spot where Peter left him, certain his boy will return.

Peter stops at a shop for a flashlight and narrowly avoids suspicion by slipping away to a school baseball field.

Pax encounters Bristle, a fierce young vixen who claims the territory and demands his submission.

Bristle's younger brother Runt rushes excitedly into Pax's company, and the two young foxes begin to bond.

Bristle transmits a disturbing psychic memory to Pax showing two foxes caught in a deadly steel trap.

Vola carves Peter a pair of perfectly fitted wooden crutches and gives him willow bark to ease the pain.

Peter steals one of Vola's knives out of fear, then admits to taking it when she discovers it is missing.

Peter tells Vola the significance of his mother's phoenix bracelet and why it means so much to him.

Pax and Gray steal into a war camp, and Pax takes a hanging piece of meat to feed them both.

Peter's father unexpectedly encounters Pax at the war camp at night and silently motions the fox through the tent.

Pax and Bristle guide the injured and weakened Runt to a stream to drink after the mine explosion.

Pax learns to hunt by staying perfectly still, catching his first mouse with Bristle guiding him through each step.

From the moment Peter's father drops him at his grandfather's house, a series of quieter but vital events set the stage for the main story. Peter uncovers clues about his father's past while Pax meets the fierce vixen Bristle and her playful brother Runt, forming the fox family he will come to love. On his journey, Peter has small close calls that test his resolve, while Vola equips him with crutches and demands honesty in return. Both Pax and Peter grow through unexpected moments of connection, from Bristle transmitting a haunting psychic memory of a steel trap to Peter opening up about his mother's bracelet. A war camp encounter reveals that even Peter's father has a complicated relationship with the natural world, silently letting Pax pass through the tent. By the end, Pax has become a true hunter and caretaker, learning to catch prey and guiding the injured Runt to water as a fully wild fox.

The supporting moments that shape Peter's quest and Pax's life in the wild.

Peter remembers a baby rabbit that died in a trap and decides this memory means he cannot abandon Pax.

Peter's therapist sessions reveal that his mother was killed suddenly in a car accident while running an ordinary errand.

Gray explains the concept of false-acting to Pax, describing humans who pretend kindness while intending harm.

Vola tells Peter that losing her leg in the war was a price she regrets paying every single day.

Bristle tells Pax the full story of watching both her parents be shot and killed in front of her by a human hunter.

Peter admits to Vola that he did not fight back or protest when his father forced him to abandon Pax.

Vola tells Peter about an enemy soldier she killed who carried a childhood copy of The Seven Voyages of Sinbad.

Peter disassembles the Sinbad marionette and reassembles it himself, discovering he can then move the puppet more skillfully.

Peter accidentally reads the top card from Vola's private collection, which says she would have been a good teacher.

Vola explains the Buddhist concept of two but not two to Peter, giving him hope that Pax is still alive.

Peter passes Vola's five-mile hiking test on crutches, proving he is strong enough to resume his journey to find Pax.

Pax tells Bristle that Peter has changed and begun false-acting, acknowledging the roadside abandonment as a betrayal.

Peter calculates from the newspaper's date that his father knew about the landmines before abandoning Pax at the roadside.

Peter confronts his father in the war zone and blames him directly for the destruction and Pax's abandonment.

Peter tells Pax to stay wild and throws the toy soldier far away from the war zone, freeing the fox.

The story's deepest turning points hinge on moments of truth: Peter's memory of a rabbit he failed to save drives him to pursue Pax, while a therapist flashback reveals the grief that has shaped him since his mother's sudden death. Vola's confession about the war and the enemy soldier she killed — a man who carried the same beloved childhood story she once loved — helps Peter understand the real cost of conflict and the importance of honesty with oneself. Peter and Pax each grapple with false-acting, with Pax recognizing Peter's roadside betrayal and Peter slowly owning the guilt he has suppressed for too long. Pivotal skills and concepts — rebuilding the marionette, the Buddhist idea of nonduality, the five-mile hiking test — prepare Peter for his final push into the war zone. The discovery that his father knew about the landmines ignites Peter's long-suppressed anger and leads to a direct confrontation. The pool ends with Peter's most profound act of love: releasing Pax completely by throwing the toy soldier away so the fox can truly be free.