In Africa, to collect specimens for zoos owned by Roger and Penny Reed, their daughter Eleanor and her partner Nevin Potter are led by the corrupt guide Olaf Punch, who is in the pay of the local ruler Ben Alleu Bey. Tarzan rescues Eleanor when she becomes trapped in a mud pit. No one will believe her story about a white man who came to her rescue, however. When a lioness tries to free her captured cubs, Tarzan is forced to save Eleanor and then free the animals who have been captured thus far.