To save their farm, the resident animals go bounty hunting for a notorious outlaw.
Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid), a wanted cattle rustler, uses an alias to buy up properties all over western Nebraska, and his next target is the Patch of Heaven dairy farm, where the widow owner cares more for her "family" of yard animals than she does for profit. She just doesn't have the cash to keep in business or to prevent Slim from taking her farm. The animals, mainly carefree youngsters, are unable to help, however, three cows of very different temperaments rise to the desperate occasion and set out to do battle for their dream home. They team up with the Sheriff's megalomaniac horse and any other animal who can possibly help, even a crazy lucky rabbit and an invincible buffalo.—TS
When an eviction notice shows up at the gates of the Patch of Heaven dairy farm, three cows take it upon themselves to prevent their home from being taken away. To do so, they'll need to collect the ransom on Alameda Slim (Randy Quaid), a cattle rustler with a yodel that can't be beaten, or ignored.
Texas is the land of cattle ranches. The large ranches can have thousands of heads of cattle/livestock.
Margaret/Maggie (Roseanne Barr) (a Hereford show cow) is the only cow left on the Dixon Ranch after Alamida Slim (Randy Quaid) a cattle thief stole all the rest of Dixon's cattle. Slim works with the Willie brothers (Sam J. Levin), who are his 3 dim-witted nephews, and is widely regarded as the meanest cattle rustlers in Texas, capable of stealing 500 heads of cattle in a single night.
Mr. Dixon (Dennis Weaver) sells Maggie to Pearl (Carole Cook), an elderly woman that runs a small dairy farm called Patch of Heaven & sets off west to start over. The dairy farm itself is peaceful and bountiful and produces eggs, corn, apples, honey, pork and chicken. The animals like it at the farm and have a happy life.
Apart from the cows, the farmhouses a chicken named Audrey (Estelle Harris), a pig named Ollie (Charlie Dell) and his 3 piglets The Piggies (Bobby Block, Keaton Savage, and Ross Simanteris), a duck named Larry (Marshall Efron) and a goat named Jeb (Joe Flaherty) who collects a bunch of cans that he is protective of.Mrs Calloway is the leader of the farm, and everyone obeys her orders.
Maggie quickly wins the favor of the local animals by performing sleight of hand tricks using her tail, until the local Sheriff Sam Brown (Richard Riehle) arrives to tell Pearl that her bank is cracking down on debtors.Pearl has three days to pay the bank $750, or her farm will be auctioned. Pearl has survived twisters and blizzards at the farm and is distraught that it would be taken away from her. Sam asks Pearl to sell off some of her livestock, which is the best in the country, to pay off her loans. Pearl considers her livestock as her family and for her selling them is not an option.
Sam's horse Buck has a lot of energy and the old sheriff (who spends most of his time sleeping) is finding it difficult to control him. Buck thinks of himself as a stud and in his imagination, he sees himself capturing several outlaws all on his own. Buck is bored living a meaningless life with Sam Brown in the sleepy town. Rusty (G.W. Bailey) is Sam's basset hound and Buck's best friend.
Hearing about the loan problem, Maggie convinces the other cows on the farm (Grace (Jennifer Tilly), a happy-go-lucky jersey cow, and Mrs. Calloway (Judi Dench) a Holstein cow who has had leadership gone to her head) to go to town to attempt winning prize money at a fair. Calloway refuses to join Maggie but relents when the other farm animals give her the stink eye.The 3 cows reach the town but get scares with all the unfamiliar noises. They see a door with a star and assume it to be the sheriff's office, but it turns out to be Saloon. The owner is Anne (Governor Ann Richards), who throws the cows out after they destroy her saloon.
While the cows are in town, a bounty hunter named Rico drops off a criminal, collects the associated reward, and looks for a replacement horse while his rests. Idolizing him, Sam's horse, Buck, convinces Rico to take him. Rico announces his intention to capture Slim for the reward.Upon learning of the reward of $750 for capturing Slim, the cows realize that this will cover Pearl's debt. Maggie convinces the other cows to help her capture Slim and collect the reward to save Patch of Heaven.
Rico (Charles Dennis) hires Buck (Cuba Gooding Jr.) (the sheriff's horse) to chase Slim. Maggie and her fellow cows hitch a ride on a wagon going to a cattle drive as they reckon Slim is going to strike there. On the way they pass the Dixon ranch which is auctioned off to one Mr O'Dealy. Maggie reveals that she was only spared in the theft because she had been locked in the barn for the night after winning the first prize at a fair.
That night, they hide among a large herd of steers as they are hit on by two longhorns Barry and Bob (Mark Walton). Slim arrives on the back of his bison Junior (Lance LeGault) and his nephews the Willies.Slim strikes the cattle drive as scheduled & sings a yodeling song that hypnotizes all cattle save Grace. She snaps Maggie & Calloway out of it before Slim closes his narrow escape path through the mountains with a rock-slide.
Rico is in pursuit & catches up with Maggie & the rest of the cows. Rico finds Buck talking to the cows & thinks he is unreliable (& too skittish around the cows) and sends him back to the sheriff with his colleagues. Rico rides ahead with a horse named Patrick (Patrick Warburton).Buck escapes & tries to capture Slim himself. Buck is determined to show Rico that he has what he takes to be a bounty hunter.
The cows follow Slim tracks but lose him in a downpour. A flash flood almost drowns the cows as Calloway drags Maggie out from underwater and saves her life by taking her to high ground. Calloway is angry at Maggie for dragging her out of the farm. Calloway says that the farm might have had a chance of survival without Maggie.
The next morning the waters recede, and they are awakened by a peg-legged rabbit named Lucky Jack (Charles Haid), who lost his home, and old mine, to Alamida Slim, who now uses it as his hideout. The cows ask Jack to lead them to the mine. Maggie convinces Calloway to come along by saying that once they collect the reward and save the farm, Maggie will voluntarily leave.
In the mine, Slim reveals that he was a ranch hand whose bosses did not recognize his talent & fired him because of his singing. Slim is very proud of his yodeling skills, which he considers an art form.So now he yodels to steal their cattle, then dresses as O'Dealy to buy their ranch at the auction. Patch of Heaven is his next target as Slim realized that this particular ranch was not on his list, as one of the Willie brothers would always sit in front of the map, and his head would hide the ranch from Slim.O'Dealy wants revenge and will not stop till he has driven all the cattle ranchers out of business in Texas.
Back at the ranch, Sam puts up the auction sign and the animals start to panic. Ollie reminds everyone that the cows have always come through for the ranch and tells them to have faith till they hear otherwise from the 3 cows themselves.
As the cows reach the mine, Buck also makes his way there & they find Slim selling his stolen herd of 5000 cattle heads to a buyer named Wesley (Steve Buscemi). Wesley is a black-market businessman and former clown college student who negotiates with Slim.Junior was guarding the gates of the mine and would only allow the cows to go in and stops Buck at the gate.
The cows overhear Slim's plan of buying Patch of Heaven & attack. Buck finds outside that Rico has also reached the mine. Buck corners Patrick and makes him nervous by saying that Slim is a mad man who is especially brutal on horses. Patrick bolts from the mine, leaving Buck as the only steed for Rico.Inside the mine, the cows manage to capture Slim and put him on a railroad cart and push him outside the mine.
The cows & Buck hassle Slim and fight over the possession of the railroad cart. Buck finds Rico and tries to hand over Slim to Rico to impress him. The cows steal the cart and run away with Rico following them on Buck. The cows head into a collision with Wesley's train which he was using to transport the cattle he bought. This frees Slim, who captures the cows.They find that Rico is actually working for Slim & helping him evade the authorities. With the help of Rico, Slim overpowers the cows & heads to Patch of Heaven for the auction.
Buck revolts against Rico & drops him & frees the cows from Wesley's train. They then commandeer Wesley's steam engine train to get to Patch of Heaven. Slim (Under O'Dealy's disguise) is about to sign the deed when the cows crash the steam engine into the farm. This outrages Slim & he exposes himself in front of the town Sherrif. The cows, & Buck, stop him from yodeling & the sheriff puts him in Jail. Pearl uses the reward money to save her farm.
At first, Mrs. Calloway (who had come to like Maggie) and Grace are sad that Maggie had seemingly left, but their spirits are lifted when they see that Maggie decided to stay. The three cows, along with Barry, Bob, and Junior, celebrate with a square dance.The animals win various prizes at the state fair to keep the farm going & to secure its future.
