With the animals' homes being destroyed by man, all of the animals of Farthing Wood meet in Badger's earth to try to find a way to survive. The latecomer Toad, suggests that they all journey to a nature reserve called White Deer Park, where he had passed by on his journey home. The animals eventually all agree to make the journey to this new haven once they take the ancient Wood Oath, of Mutual Protection. This Oath meant that everyone promised not to eat or frighten each other. Fox is assigned as their leader and it is agreed that they will meet by the Great Oak at midnight to begin their long journey.
When their only means of water is filled in the animals all meet by the Great Oak to begin their long journey to White Deer Park. While performing a head count Badger discovers that Mole is late. He eventually shows up and the animals begin their journey. They stop at a human's swimming pool to quench their thirst but they make too much noise in their excitement and wake up the human's cat. Fortunately the cat is too fat to fit through it's flap so the animals escape with out being caught.
The Newts are finding the journey more difficult than the others so when they come across a large lake, they decide to make it their new home. After saying their goodbyes the rest of the animals continue on their journey. After crossing to the other side of the lake Weasel announces that she can smell fire. Soon the other animals spot smoke in the distance, gaining on them. Fox's instincts kick in and he begins to run away from the fire but he has to overcome them when Toad is missing. He has been left behind and its up to Fox to go back and rescue him. Toad is rescued by Fox but Badger discovers that mole is missing. He has been picked up by a fire fighter and placed inside his pocket. Badger heads back and rescues him. It is then that they realise that the Newts have died in the blaze. They are the first of the animals to lose their lives on the journey.
With most of the animals too tired to care where they rest they shelter in an empty barn. But Fox is wary about being near humans and sets up a watch to alert them of danger. However when Mrs Pheasant takes the place of her sleeping husband she wanders out of the barn and is killed by the farmer's gun. With the sound of the gun the animals try to escape but they are locked inside the barn with a dog patrolling outside. Some of the animals manage to gnaw and dig an escape route allowing them all to escape into a nearby wood. However it is when they are all safe and the panic over that Fox realises that one of them is missing.
When the normally cowardly Mr Pheasant offers to go back and look for Adder on the farm he is shocked to find that his wife has been made into the farmer's dinner. It is then that he too gets shot. The other animals hear the gun shot and realise what has happened so Owl volunteers and flies over to the farm in search of Adder. Owl finds Adder and they catch up with the rest of the animals and continue on the journey. While crossing a river, the rabbits panic in the water so Fox jumps in to save them. However in their panic they try to climb onto him and put him in danger as well. Badger swims in to help the exhausted Fox and keep him afloat. While the rabbits are taken to safety a large log, floating down stream strikes Fox and Badger.
After the incident crossing the river, Badger is spotted still alive but caught in some reeds. Toad, Hare and weasel swim over to help Badger get untangled before they all swim back to land. Fox is nowhere to be found so Kestrel files downstream to see if she can find him. She sees him lying on the log heading under a bridge but as the log appears on the other side Fox is no longer there. Badger is assigned as the new leader and to add to matters Toad forgets which way to go. Owl suggests this is because his homing instincts have come into play. Hare and Vole inform Badger that Mrs. Fieldmouse has given birth to her young. Badger suggests that the animals should stop to rest for the time being.
After finding himself on a log floating downstream Fox jumped aboard a boat that ended up in a town. As he sees humans surrounding him he jumps out and escapes into the town. Frightened by the bustle of the town in daylight he looks for somewhere to hide. He meets a cat called Tom and hunts rats for him in return for shelter. However when he finds a box to sleep in it is lifted by a truck, which heads out of the town, so Fox takes his chance and escpapes into a nearby field. Here he is greeted by a friendly Horse who warns him about the hunt in this area. Finding himself an empty den he goes inside for a rest. But soon he is woken by the movement of another fox, a Vixen. Meanwhile, back with the other animals, the fieldmice's new born babies have been eaten by a butcher bird.
Now that he has met the lovely Vixen, Fox is in his element. He asks Vixen if she will be his mate. But she tells him he that must prove himself to her first but does agree to help him get back to the other animals. They eventually find that the animals have taken two paths. The two foxes each take a path and agree that whosever is on the wrong path will head back to join the other. While following their own path both Fox and Vixen hear the cry of the hunt and it is on the trail of Vixen. Fox makes it halfway up to the top of a steep hill where the rest of the animals are but runs back down to draw the hunt away from Vixen. He succeeds but only for a while as they give up when he escapes back up the hill. Fox is devastated to realise that poor Vixen may not make it as she is exhausted and collapses. A huntsmen is edging his horse on to trample on her when all of a sudden Adder appears. She bites the horse's leg, causing it to rear back and stumble down the hill, letting Vixen escape to
After escaping the Hunt for now the animals come across a large quarry. It is here that they meet Whistler, a great blue heron. A name he received because of the wind whistling through a bullet hole in his wing when he flies. Whistler saves Toad's life when a carp fish catches Toad in it's mouth, when Toad tries to compete against Whistler's fishing. Whistler fetches the carp from the water and returns Toad to the other animals. Whistler then joins the animals on their journey.
A busy motorway lies ahead of the animals. All of the animals are hesitant to cross it because of the dangers involved. Most want to find another way around but the sound of the Hunting horn can be heard in the distance. They have to cross the motorway. They split into groups and take it in turns to cross. The larger animals like Fox and Badger help the smaller animals along and Whistler carries the fieldmice, the voles and the shrews to the other side in his beak. It is only the prickly hedgehogs who can not be carried over. The hedgehogs try to cross the road but their instincts get the better of them and they curl up when they see a car heading towards them and they unfortunately die.
Still shaken and grieving for the death of the hedgehogs the animals find themselves in a large field filled with vegetables. The grass-eating animals are overjoyed with the abundance of food for them until Fox notices something is wrong. He believes the field may be poisonous. When a tractor spraying a liquid substance heads their way the animals make a run for it. However Mr Rabbit is too slow and is coated in the substance. As the Rabbits panic Fox discovers that the poisonous chemical is in fact only harmful to insects like caterpillars and butterflies. Mr Rabbit is not going to die much to Mrs Rabbit's relief.
During a storm the Farthing animals head into a town and when they find that they cannot travel any further in such conditions they come across a church. Mole finds an entrance into the building through some loose bricks in a wall. The animals safe from the elements settle down for the night. However in the morning humans entering the church awake them. Frightening each other chaos ensues and the animals cause further mayhem in their desperation to escape. While most of the animals try to regroup they notice that some of their friends are missing.
When escaping the church some of the animals took the wrong turn and ended up in the opposite direction to the rest of the group. However this also happens to be further into the town. Badger and Weasel in a rush to hide, end up in a wine cellar. Weasel is thirsty and drinks from one of the barrels and becomes quite drunk. Badger has to carry her on his back so that he can try and find the others, luckily Owl spots them and leads him back to them. The Rabbits are the last to be found and are discovered in a building site, stuck down a pit with steep sides. Whistler spots them and tries to help them out but they are too heavy. Fox eventually rescues them. Once all the animals are reunited they make the last part of the journey to White Deer Park. All the animals agree that Toad, their guide through the entire journey should be the first to enter the park. They are all greeted by the Great White Stag, who welcomes them to their new home.
The Farthing animals have finally completed their long journey to White Deer Park.They are welcomed by many of the animals like Speedy the Heron (who mates Whistler), Measly the Weasel (who mates Weasel) and Frogs named The Edible Frogs. Some are not so pleased to see them. The silver fox Scarface does not want the new arrivals to be in the park and feels that they are trespassing on his territory. With the journey over the Oath is no longer needed. However the Farthing animals find it difficult to revert back to their old ways before they took the Oath and so continue to uphold it and remain friends. Fox speaks to the Great Stag and together they suggest an area of the park to be allocated for the Farthing creatures to live together how they wish.
A harsh winter arrives and the Farthing animals are finding food scarce, especially because their recent arrival left them unable to stock food. Whistler and Speedy spare some of their fish for the meat-eaters, but the animals soon become sick of the same diet. While out hunting Fox and Vixen meet Scarface and his mate Lady Blue. Vixen tries to start a conversation with them but Scarface warns her to stay on her own land. Meanwhile Badger slips in the heavy snow while out walking and is injured. The Park Warden finds him and takes him back to his home to treat him. The other animals worry for their missing friend. Badger manages to persuade the Warden's cat to inform the others that he is safe. While the cat is telling Mole about Badger being with her at his cottage, Kestrel spots them and thinks Mole is in danger. She dives on the cat, injuring her and causing her to fall to the ground in pain.
With food scarce the animals are hungry and the meat eaters of the group are having difficulty hunting because they fear accidentally hunting one of their friends. While the smaller animals blame Fox for the recent death of Mrs Vole, Badger is released from the Warden's cottage.
Poachers enter the Park and kill some of the Deer. The Farthing Wood animals do what they can to help and set up a watch to act as an early warning system. Fox hatches a plan to rid the Park of the hunters but Scarface plots to turn his plan against him.
Its spring and Vixen finally gives birth to her cubs. The animals all gather to congratulate the new parents and to help decide on names for the four cubs. The poachers still plague all the animals in the park but when the warden returns they believe their troubles to be over. However the poachers continue to hunt in the park while the warden remains ignorant to their nightly activities. Fox sets into motion a plan to get rid of the poachers by bringing them to the attention of the warden. Wandering round in the open and calling out they finally spot him and give chase - straight to the warden's cottage. Hearing gunshots the warden runs out and catches the poachers in the act, putting a stop to their hunting for good.
The cubs Bold, Charmer, Dreamer and Friendly are being taught the ways of the world by their parents Fox and Vixen. However while Fox is away Scarface spies on the cubs while Vixen is teaching them to hunt. Weasel spots him and bravely informs Vixen, scaring him off by singing. However Vixen doesn't believe her and upsets Weasel. Fox later sniffs the area and believes Weasel may have been telling the truth. Back at his den Scarface's jealously tells Lady Blue that Vixen's cubs are better than hers. After this Lady Blue decides to see the cubs for herself and is confronted by Vixen. Meanwhile Toad has awoken from hibernation confused and his homing instincts drawing him back to Farthing Wood. However he is caught by a young boy and put into a jar. He becomes fascinated with a female Toad also trapped in a jar and so comes out of his trance. Luckily for them Whistler catches the two occupied jars, dropping one and freeing the female Toad and taking Toad to the warden's cottage to be
The animals grieve when Dreamer, Fox and Vixen's cub is found dead. Although it cannot be certain as to the cause of death, Fox believes that Scarface is to blame. The impulsive Bold slips away and wanders into Scarface's land, where he meets Ranger, Scarface's son and tries to become friends. Scarface spots them and imprisons Bold in his earth. Fox and Friendly enter Scarface's land in an attempt to rescue Bold, but soon become surrounded by blue foxes. Fox manages to convince Scarface to allow Friendly to return home. Meanwhile Bold was able to cunningly escape just as his father and brother trespassed onto the blue foxes' territory. Weasel informs the White Stag about the situation and he steps in to prevent any feuding. Fox is allowed to return to Farthing land, only to find Bold was already there. Fox is infuriated with him and tells him that he will remain where Fox can watch him at all times and is not to wander off. Bold can not take it and feels the park isn't big enoug
Bold has left White Deer Park and is enjoying his new independent life. He first meets Crow then a friendly female Badger called Shadow when he unintentionally enters her den. He catches a pheasant for her and they become friends. She warns him about the gamekeeper, which explains the abundance of pheasants and a lack of foxes. Shadow gets caught in a trap meant for him and stays to release her when the human is on his way. However as he chews through the wire it springs back, releasing her but catches him in the eye. Later when hunting for pheasants, unable to see out of his injured eye he does not notice the farmer until it is too late and Bold is shot. Meanwhile back in White Deer Park, Charmer the remaining female cub of Fox and Vixen meets and befriends Ranger, Scarface's son. Scarface kills Mrs Hare and so Mr Hare moves his family back onto Farthing land. The animals plot to kill Scarface by stealth the way he probably did to kill Dreamer. They elect Adder but make the mistake
Bold is helpless and starving due to his gunshot wound but luckily for him Crow agrees to help him and fetches Shadow. She tends to him and stays with him until he feels stronger. But while she goes out hunting he slips away not wanting to be dependent on anyone. He heads towards a farmhouse where Shadow catches up to him. She understands his need to be independent and live his own life and tells him to be careful. He catches a chicken but alerts the farmer and his dog who give chase. Bold dashes down a nearby hole but the farmer tries to dig him out. Falling debris lands on Bold and knocks him unconscious, making the farmer believe that he is dead. Crow tells him that he is extremely lucky and suggests that if he still wants to feed off humans to try the town. The rest of the Farthing Animals are still worried about Scarface. Adder gets cornered by him and hides down a hole but not before he tears her tail. The animals decide to punish the Weasels and hold a trial for them. Fox sets
Bold arrives in the town with Crow and they continue to keep their bargain of feeding one another. While wandering the town for food Bold comes across a female fox but she doesn't seem interested. The following night he sees her again and they hunt together and she, Whisper invites him back to her earth. However he can't break his agreement with Crow so goes back to him. Crow frees him from his agreement so that Bold can be free to see Whisper and says that if they need each other, to leave food under the bush. Bold goes back with Whisper to her earth in the Church grounds and tells her his story when she thinks that he is old. She is honoured to know him, the son of the famous, heroic Farthing fox. Meanwhile Friendly finds out that his sister Charmer is seeing Ranger and informs his parents. Fox is not happy about it and agrees to meet him. Ranger says that in a fight between the Blue foxes and the Farthing Wood animals he won't fight for any side. A sad event leaves the animals gri
Now sharing a den, Bold and Whisper continue to grow closer. With the help of Whisper, Crow - and a St. Bernards dog Rollo whom he befriends, Bold is now finding the struggle for survival less and less of a challenge. But his pride has taken a blow - he can't stand having to rely on others all the time, and when Whisper reveals that she is with cub, and wants him to guide her back to White Deer Park, Bold's self-confidence takes another blow: she only chose him for a mate due to his lineage. Whisper denies this, but the journey takes its toll on Bold and he grows steadily weaker. Meanwhile, back in White Deer Park, the feud comes to a head when Vixen and Lady Blue become involved in a vicious fight.
Infuriated by Lady Blue's wounds following her fight with Vixen, Scarface leads an attack on the Farthing Wood animals. Fortunately, Hare manages to warn Fox and gather the animals in time. Ranger meanwhile attempts to aid the Farthing Wood animals but, in doing so unintentionally leads Scarface to their whereabouts. The attack culminates in a huge battle between Fox and Scarface which is ended when the Warden turns up, but not before Scarface is severely injured. Elsewhere, Adder decides its time to exact her plan of vengeance upon Scarface.
The Farthing Wood animals celebrate in the lieu of Fox's defeat of Scarface - but Scarface makes a shocking return and, as retribution kills Mrs Rabbit. On his way home however, Adder finally puts an end to the tyrant, biting him as he drinks from the stream. Scarface's death marks an end of the feud - but Fox and his family have no time for celebration. Whisper has arrived at White Deer Park - but without Bold, Bold having hidden himself away, his pride refusing to let him return to the park. Fox and Vixen manage to find their son just in time to say one last goodbye before he dies, Bold at last content with his father's approval. Bold's death triggering an epiphany, Fox at last gives his blessing to Ranger and Charmer's union.
Many of the Animals have had children and even grandchildren. Fox's Grandson Plucky wanted a race with Dash. Weasel is going to have children which Weasel was not happy about. In another part of White Deer Park, The Great White Stag takes a drink from the stream and unexpectedly Perishes. Whistler who was flying around White Deer Park had found out and he alerted Fox and the other animals. Fox had Figured out that a bad tempered Deer named Trey would take his place. Owl had flown away to go look for a Mate. Meanwhile, a Plague of Rats head towards the Great White Stag's Dead Body lead by a big white Rat named Bully. Else Where, When Plucky and Dash take a Drink at a Pond, They get encountered by Trey and he tells them that it's his pond he will only let Non-Deer drink from it. The Rats had been watching and they were about to Capture Mossy until Measly scared them away. The Weasels had a great chase from Trey from that screaming who prevents screaming happening in White Deer Park. Weasel had decided for she and Measly to leave White Deer Park. Meanwhile Shadow the Badger arrives at White Deer Park with a mate named Hurkel and a Snake named Sinuous who mates Adder and some Voles arrive at the Park as well.
Owl leaves the park in search of a mate and the Weasel family have left to start a new life else where. Plucky and Dash race again, while Trey harasses the other Farthing Wood animals. Meanwhile, Bully and his rats begin to build their numbers.
Water becomes an issue for the Animals of White Deer Park. Shadow and Hurkel arrive at the park only to see that the only water source Trey will allow the animals to drink from has been poisoned. That was the stream that The Great White Stag perished from. Meanwhile outside White Deer Park, Owl encounters a Rook named Moth eaten Rook who wants to talk to her. However Owl flies away with the Rook following her.
While the number of Bully's rats continues to grow, so does the number of missing animals. When Dash sees Plucky being taken away in a cage to a truck, she decides to follow the truck only to be shut out of a mysterious human establishment surrounded by high walls and spike-top gates. Meanwhile, the Weasels to stay at a farm but the animals wouldn't let them stay. They gain a new Protector who is Rollo the Sheep Dog.
Weasel and Measley find a seemingly nice burrow for them to live when they discover it is being occupied by vicious wildcats. Their loyal "weasel dog" Rollo comes to their rescue. Meanwhile, Fox confronts Trey and tells him that he'll either come to hell or high water, Trey will respect the other animals of the park and he will step down as leader if one of the stags can fight against him for Leadership. Also Ranger, Charmer, and Whisper confront Bully for the first time and he makes his intentions clear. Charmer manages to kill one Rat. His name gets mentioned as Scragg.
The weasel family are still looking for another home away from White Deer Park. While the rest of the Farthing animals are still trying to find out where the missing animals are. It is up to Whistler to solve it. He follows the truck to a walled-in nature reserve. When Plucky finds him, he tells him that the place is a new sanctuary. Although it's a nice place, many of the animals were separated from their families. Meanwhile Owl is still trying to escape the moth-eaten Rook, who says he loves her, but gets into trouble when she hides in a house.
Awoken by roaring the animals slowly gather to watch as Trey fights with another stag to become leader of the herd. They hope that Trey loses as any other stag would probably treat them better but he doesn't. While Fox is alone sleeping Bully and his rats pay him a visit and threaten his life while telling him that he should leave along with the Farthing animals. Fox refuses saying they'll continue to fight them, surrounded by rats he fears the worst until they run away when they spot a badger on its way. Hurkel arrives to ask Fox if he wants to watch the stags fighting but when he smells rats in his earth Fox tells him to get Ranger to assemble all the foxes and Adder and Sinuous - they are going to attack the rat's headquarters. They ask Spike where the headquarters are but he denies he knows where it is, luckily a hare tells them. When the animals return after a night of fighting, Dash believes they were chased by hunters and beagles until told it was through fighting rats. An exhau
The two snakes find their way to Bully's nest after speaking to a rat with a feeling of impending doom. However Bully manages to escape leaving Adder and Sinuous frantically racing through tunnels with overwhelming numbers of rats looking for a way out. Adder reaches the surface but Sinuous turns the wrong way and ends up trapped underground. Toad tells Fox about the dwindling Frog numbers due to the rats eating them and Fox agrees to get the foxes to stand guard around the pond. Whistler informs Plucky about the events happening in White Deer Park and how they need his help to fight the rats. When the gates to the new reserve open to let out a van Plucky takes his chance to escape and jumps into the back of the van. However it goes the wrong way, but it is forced to stop when sheep block its path. Plucky jumps out and races back to White Deer Park. Meanwhile Owl is devastated when Hollow tells her about the pretty young owl he intends to become his mate once mature. Owl refuses
The animals in White Deer Park are still trying to deal with the army of rats and try to make the Warden aware of the problem. Meanwhile the weasels and the piglet come across a copse with a grumpy Wild Boar living there. Bully forms a task force to hunt down and kill the snakes. They find Sinuous, thinking it's Adder and kill him. Hurkel and Shadow try to comfort Adder as Bully slinks away unnoticed.
Toad and Spike invent a game called "The Mole Game" They have to guess where Mossy the Mole will come up. Ranger ends up winning when Charmer asks what Toad and Spike are doing, which quite makes his day. Adder has vowed to kill as many rats as she can to avenge her mate's death. Owl is still imprisoned in her Jacket of building cement, a few other fellow flappers (A Robin, A Green Woodpecker, A Rook, and another female owl) decide to try and break the cement by shoving her off the branch, but the plan fails, she is off the branch and still in the cement (It made her feel very Slow and Heavy). Toad and Spike continue playing their game, but soon become surrounded by Bully and his rat army, Spike's cover is blown when he responds to Bully's Call of "Who am I" With a "Bully Bully Bully" complete with salute! Toad tries to escape, but ends up captured. Mossy has rushed to get help, only to find Dash. Dash goes and gets some White Deer to chase her, they stampede over the rats, squashing nearly every one. Spike feels awful for his behaviour, but is relieved when Toad is found alive at the pond, and Toad fully forgives him when Spike promises to fight like a Terrier the next time it happens. Spike was kicked out of the rat plague.
As Mossy predicted, a hurricane come to the area around White Deer Park. The fierce winds knock over the last Farthing Wood beech tree and release Owl from her cement shell. After the hurricane ends, Rollo and the Warden find Shadow unconscious and take her to the cottage. Fox discovers Trey pinned under a tree. Another stag, Laird, comes to free Trey and readies to challenge him to a fight for leadership. Because of his injury, Trey reluctantly limps away abdicating his power to Laird. Afterwards, he is taken away by the Warden. Measley declares that he will take no more of Weasel's insults and decides to take their young ones back to White Deer Park. Weasel agrees wholeheartedly.
When the weasels return home, all the animals are overrun with joy. Fox explains their problem with the rats to the weasels and asks for their help. They agree, but first they must train Fido and Cleo on how to deal with rats ... using Spike as a volunteer. Mossy tells Hurkel that he found Shadow in a hutch by the Warden's cottage. While Hurkel and the weasels try to get her out, the Warden's cat summons Rollo to get rid of them. Of course, he recognizes his weasel friends and is very happy to see them. Meanwhile, after a few fights for leadership of the herd, the white deer and Farthing animals name Laird as the new leader of White Deer Park. Elsewhere, the rats, at their largest number yet, prepare to launch a massed attack on the animals of the park.
Owl and Hollow return to White Deer Park just in time to overhear Bully addressing an assembly of his rats. She goes to gather the other animals and they plan to counterattack. Plucky sends Mossy to find Laird so he can send the white deer to stampede the rats. But despite their best efforts, the rats are still too numerous. There seems to be no chance of stopping them, until Cleo bites off Bully's tail. All the animals, including the rats begin to laugh at Bully and he skulks off to the sewers where he came from. After the battle was won, the other rats apart from Spike returned to where they were before they came to the park and Fox calls an assembly to announce that he has decided to step down as leader of Farthing Land. He places Plucky in charge despite slight protest from Ranger. Trey returns to inform the animals that the Warden has merged White Deer Park with the new sanctuary to make one large wildlife preserve. He announces that with so much more space, he has decided to lose his brutish disposition, though he is still not fond of weasels. As Fox and Trey walk away together, Plucky decides that after a hard day's fighting, everyone should rest and explore the new addition to White Deer Park the next day.
The US aired version of the Animals of Farthing Wood. Another rare video called Journey Home: The Animals Of Farthing Wood. This is an edited down version taken from the first series and made into a two-hour video. This was only released on VHS in the U.S. and is very hard to come by. Heroic Fox (Ralph Macchio), dutiful Badger, shy Mole, playful Weasel, and their friends are on the move. They're the Animals of Farthing Wood and they're looking for a land free of bulldozers and humans - a safe place they can call home.
