Henry Huggins's dog, Ribsy, is hopelessly lost in a huge shopping mall parking lot, on a horribly rainy day. He jumps into, what he thinks to be, the Hugginses' new station wagon's open tailgate window and falls exhaustedly asleep. Unfortunately, it's the wrong car and when he awakes he is being petted by a lot of little girls, who are planning to give him a bath. Thus, Ribsy's adventure begins.