Vivo is a kinkajou living in Havana, Cuba to perform music with his owner and friend, Andres Hernandez. Andres receives a letter from an old flame, Marta Sandoval, a famous singer who was also his former musical partner. Andres was always in love with her but never told her because he feared she wouldn’t chase her dreams because of him. She invites him to perform with her in Miami for her farewell tour, but Andres sadly passes away before he and Vivo can make their trip. After Vivo meets Andres’s grand-niece Gabi, he joins her and her mom Rosa on the trip back to Florida so that he can deliver to Marta a song that Andres wrote for her where he expresses his true feelings for her. When Gabi discovers that Vivo has stowed away and that he wants to bring the song to Marta, she takes him on a trip to Miami to complete the task.
On their journey, Vivo and Gabi are chased by the Sand Dollars troop that want Gabi to sell cookies with them, and they also want to get Vivo to vaccinated and quarantine him per animal safety regulations, but the two outrun them and fall onto a boat. They later get separated in the Everglades and encounter other animals before getting reunited when the Sand Dollars find Gabi. They are attacked by a python named Lutador but vivo outsmarts him. Unfortunately, the song is destroyed in the process, and Vivo and Gabi feel defeated. However, she remembers the lyrics and he remembers the melody, so they are able to rewrite the song and head off to Miami to finish the job.
Marta learns of Andres’s death and is too heartbroken to perform until Vivo makes it to her dressing room, and he gives her the song, allowing her to realize how Andres felt about her, and Marta expresses her own love for him. Vivo goes back to Gabi and Rosa, and after Rosa realizes why Gabi did all of this (she wanted Marta to know Andres loved her since she failed to tell her father she loved him before he passed away), Rosa brings the two back to the concert hall to watch Marta perform Andres’s song.
Vivo returns home with Gabi and performs in public with her like he did with Andres.