Ashtonville is like many other cities. It has a baseball park, a soccer stadium, three museums, a roller coaster park, waterslides, a swim club, a hockey rink, railroad station, an uptown, and a downtown. But it has something special other cities don’t: forty-two very special cows owned by the four Donald brothers.

But the cows can be stubborn. They don’t like to be photographed, painted, or even read to. These special cows turn their backs on all of these attempts, and it’s not a pretty sight. However, John, Ashtonville’s fire lieutenant, needs to deliver an important message about fire safety to the cows. He wonders how he’s going to get these animals to take his speech seriously. Four-year-old Buckaroo, the fire lieutenant’s son, comes up with a creative idea to finally get the cows’ attention.