Holt was once a circus star until he went off to war and returned terribly altered. Circus owner Max Medici hires him to take care of Dumbo, a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him the laughingstock of the struggling circus troupe. But when Holt's children discover that Dumbo can fly, silver-tongued entrepreneur V.A. Vandevere and aerial artist Colette Marchant swoop in to make the little elephant a star.