Spencer Plain has been settling into his new home in Bearhaven, the secret refuge his parents created, learning to speak Ragayo which is the bear's language, and improving his survival skills--he still does not know where his parents are, but he knows that when his best friend, a bear cub named Kate, is kidnapped it is up to him to rescue her before it is too late.

When Spencer Plain's uncle pulls him out of school, and they find themselves being chased by a strange car, Spencer does not know what is going on--but soon he is rescued from the woods by a bear, and taken to Bearhaven, a secret refuge his parents created, filled with bears who can talk, where, desperate to find his parents, he and a bear cub named Kate decide to take matters into their own hands.