In the past four years since the events of the second film, Alex the Lion and his friends are still in Africa trying to return home to New York. The animals decide to travel to Monte Carlo and get the Penguins to fly them home. In Monte Carlo, the antics of King Julien in the Hotel De Paris cause security to call animal control in the form of officer Chantel DuBois. Running for their life, the animals soon come upon a circus train and tell the animals within that they are circus animals. Later learning from their new friends that the struggling circus is trying to prepare for its first American tour which may be the opportunity Alex and his friends need to return home.