Confined to a lab since birth, genetically enhanced mouse Clementine is considered a genius by the scientists who study her. While she completes test after test for them with perfect intellectual execution, Clementine is starved for emotional connection. Each night she sneaks out and interacts with the other animals in the lab, especially a chimpanzee named Rosie. When a sympathetic research assistant sets free Clementine and another mouse named Hamlet, they wind up on the set of a television show called "Pop's Hobbies" and in the care of eleven-year-old Gus, Pop's grandson. Though there's a reward out for returning Clementine, Gus and Pop ignore it and call attention to the animals' plight through a televised chess match with Clementine.