The film tells the story of Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel, a young boy who grows up in a zoo in Pondicherry, India. Pi's father decides to move to Canada, and the family sets sail on a ship with some of their zoo animals. However, their journey is cut short when the ship sinks, leaving Pi stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger, a zebra, a hyena, and an orangutan.