Ten-year-old Mac is looking forward to a Florida vacation with his busy dad, but a sudden emergency propels them to an isolated Canadian lake, where the crash of an oil company helicopter has caused heads (and one extremely large tail) to turn. While his father spends the day locating a drill that was on board the helicopter, Mac makes friends with an elderly woman, who tells him about the "Mee-Shee," a local Loch Ness Monster-esque legend. When he meets Pawnee, a local Native American girl, together they discover that the grumpy Mee-Shee actually exists. But whether Mac can convince his dad that his prehistoric friend is anything other than a fairy tail is a small matter, until a rival oil company shows up with plans to claim whatever can be found in the lake. In the spirit of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, Mee-Shee: The Water Giant uses the deep blue lakes, dark green forests, and high mountain cliffs of New Zealand to spin its tale of childhood independence and ecological awareness.