After escaping the clutches of a slave trader, a bold ten-year-old Sudanese boy befriends a young giraffe and a kind Bedouin, who takes them on a splendid journey via a hot-air balloon as far as the palace of King Charles X of France.

The plot of the film has a grandfather telling his grand kids the story of Maki, a young boy who escapes from slave traders, befriends a giraffe (the title character), cross the desert, meet a pirate, and a few other things on a trip that takes him from Africa to Paris.—Odin

As the bold ten-year-old Sudanese boy, Maki, summons the courage to escape from the clutches of the evil slave trader, Moreno, he stumbles upon a desperate mother-giraffe and her helpless calf. But, fate has ordained that both Maki and his new four-legged friend, Zarafa, will be taken under the wing of the kind-hearted Bedouin, Hassan, who safely transports them from an occupied by the Turks Alexandria to the palace of King Charles X of France. Maki has sworn to protect Zarafa at all costs; however, can he keep his promise?—Nick Riganas