An odd, but charming man entertains the people in his neighborhood with his uncanny attachment and abilty to talk to animals.

In the mid-19th-century English village of Puddleby-on-the-Marsh, kindly Doctor Dolittle has grown disenchanted with human beings and tends solely to the needs of animals. With the help of his parrot, Polynesia, he has mastered the dialects of some 500 animals. His only human friends are Matthew Mugg, an Irish cat food seller, and Tommy Stubbins, a local lad. The doctor's immediate concern is raising money to search for the legendary Great Pink Sea Snail. When a friend sends him the rare pushmi-pullyu (a two-headed llama), the doctor takes the animal to the rundown circus of Mr. Blossom and exhibits it for profit. At the circus he befriends Sophie, a lonely seal who is pining for her mate at the North Pole. Sympathetic to her plight, Dolittle dresses Sophie in a woman's shawl and bonnet and sets her free by tossing her into the English Channel. His act of mercy is misinterpreted, however, and he is charged with murder, and although acquitted, he is committed to an asylum. Matthew, Tommy, and the doctor's animal friends arrange for his escape, and, accompanied by pretty Emma Fairfax, they all set sail to find the Great Pink Sea Snail. They are shipwrecked during a storm at sea and cast upon a floating island ruled by a giant native called William Shakespeare the Tenth. The newcomers are blamed for a sudden spell of chilly weather and sentenced to death, but Doctor Dolittle saves the day by both curing an epidemic of colds and arranging for the giant blue whale to push the island back to its position on the African mainland. Then the Great Pink Sea Snail arrives for its annual visit, also suffering from a nasty cold. Once cured, the grateful creature offers the inside of its spacious shell to transport everyone back to England. Dolittle, however, elects to remain behind rather than risk reimprisonment. After his friends have left, and he finds himself pining for Emma, Sophie the seal pays him a visit to announce that all the animals in England are on strike because of the injustices done to him and, further, that the authorities are anxious for his return. Dolittle quickly designs a saddle for the Giant Lunar Moth and soars off in the moonlight for a speedy return to Puddleby-on-the-Marsh. Musical numbers : "My Friend the Doctor" (Matthew); "The Vegetarian," "Talk to the Animals" (Dolittle); "At the Crossroads" (Emma); "I've Never Seen Anything Like It" (Albert, Dolittle, Mrs. Blossom, & Ensemble), "When I Look Into Your Eyes," "Like Animals" (Dolittle); "After Today" (Matthew); "Fabulous Places" (Emma); "I Think I Like You" (Dolittle, Emma); "Doctor Dolittle" (Matthew & Ensemble); "Something in Your Smile" (Dolittle).