Zach is small for a sixth-grader and the girls at school make fun of him, but when one girl in his class starts showing him some tae kwon do moves and teaching him about martial arts, things begin to change.
After making a dangerous voyage down the Mississippi from New York, Bartleby, who had started life as a pet turtle, and his alligator friend Seezer must learn to survive in their true bayou home.
After being abandoned in a pond, Bartleby, a pet turtle, meets many other creatures, learns to survive in the wild, and decides to go in search of his birthplace.