Renowned animal trainer Tanya Rawlins and her assistant, Carl Marley, land their airplane in the heart of the African jungle and are eager to begin trapping the abundant wildlife for shipment back to American zoos.  They soon learn from hunter Weir, however, that the local ruler, King Farrod, allows only one pair of each animal species to be taken from his country by any single expedition.  Sure that she can convince Farrod to exempt her expedition from this law, Tanya attends his birthday celebration the next day and there meets wild man Tarzan, his mate Jane, and son Boy.  While Farrod remains firm in his conviction that only one pair of each animal should be trapped, Tarzan feels strongly that no animals should be taken.

To bypass Farrod, Weir and Tanya join forces with Farrod's greedy, ambitious nephew, Prince Ozira, who offers to help them export an unlimited number of animals for a price.  During the first day of the expedition, Farrod is assassinated by confederates of Ozira, and the king's son Suli is thrown into a crocodile-filled ravine and left for dead.

After Ozira claims the throne, Tanya, Marley and Weir begin indiscriminately capturing animals.  Tarzan, meanwhile, becomes upset when he discovers that Boy has exchanged two lion cubs for a flashlight belonging to Smithers, one of Weir's helpers, and goes to the hunters' camp to retrieve the cubs.  Upon seeing the camp filled with caged animals, Tarzan warns the expedition to stay on their side of the river and then "calls" the jungle inhabitants to his side.

Weir, however, ignores Tarzan's warnings and crosses the river to trap and shoot more animals.  One of his victims is Tarzan's chimpanzee Cheetah, whom he takes back to camp in a bamboo cage.  Cheetah soon escapes and races back to alert Tarzan who, with Boy, sneaks into the camp that night and steals all the guns.

Although Tanya is ready to abandon the expedition, Weir sends two of his unarmed native helpers to obtain more guns from Ozira. Both men are attacked by lions, but one survives and makes his way through the jungle.  The next morning, Tarzan and Boy, who have hidden the guns behind a waterfall, return to the camp to liberate the animals and later rescue Tanya from a leopard attack.  After Tarzan promises to guide Tanya out of the jungle, Tanya discovers through Cheetah the whereabouts of the guns and quickly rearms the expedition.

While Weir's man alerts Ozira to the expedition's plight, Tarzan and Boy stumble on the still shaken Suli just as a python is about to strike.  Tarzan saves Suli from the snake and sends Boy back to Jane while he heads for the village with the prince.  On the way, Tarzan and Suli are stalked by three of Ozira's men, whom Tarzan easily kills.  Tarzan then "calls" a herd of elephants to stampede the area, and the elephants destroy the camp and cause the death of Ozira, Marley and Weir.

After Tarzan rescues Jane and Boy from one of Weir's traps, Cheetah, who has long yearned for Tanya's makeup compact, sneaks on board her airplane as she and Smithers embark.  Tarzan, Jane and Boy then see Cheetah being pushed out of the plane and parachuting to the ground, compact in hand.