Als die Tiere den Wald verliessen

Toad returns home to Farthing Wood after travelling back from far away. The woodland is however being felled by developers to create a town and Toad is accidentally buried under a mound of dirt. Fox and Badger survey their last remaining water source, a muddy trickle, and agree that they are facing a crisis. Fox proposes 'an Assembly', a gathering of all the woodland animals, in the hope that someone may have an idea. Badger agrees to organise it in his den at Midnight. With Weasel tagging after him, they set off to spread the message. Although Badger enlarges his set and has Weasel collect some glowworms, Owl at first refuses to go underground, but eventually relents, setting the standard for the rest of the birds. She is soon followed by the Newts, Kestrel, the Squirrels, the Rabbits, the Mice, the Voles, the Hares, the Pheasants, the Shrews, Hedgehog, and finally Fox and Adder (to the dismay of the smaller creatures). Badger is about to begin the assembly when Mole arrives, unaware that there is a meeting on, but late as usual. As the animals discuss the problem, Toad breaks out of the ground and makes his way towards the meeting, breaking through the roof of Badger's set. He retells how he was captured in a jam jar by a young human, but made his way back to see his friends, and his pond. He is dismayed when Owl tells him (very bluntly) that it has been filled in. Fox tells the animals that they have to find a new home, or perish. Toad, luckily, has a brainwave. They could go to a wonderful place, where humans protect animals rather than hunt them, called 'White Deer Park'. Some of the animals are sceptical that such a place exists, but with no alternative, Fox agrees this is their best bet for survival. Hare points out that carnivores would be placed near their natural prey, which would be a recipe for disaster. Badger suggests they all take the 'Oath of Mutual Protection', that is, no carnivore will 'terrorist nor consume' the others. All agree to this, although Adder is less than pleased. Badger nominates Fox as their leader, and Toad as their guide. The animals agree to meet at midnight to begin their great journey.

The animals meet together in order to start their journey to White Deer Park. Unfortunately, Mole refuses to join his fellow animals after hearing Adder call him slow. As the rest of the animals begin the journey, Badger waits behind and is able to persuade Mole that he won’t be a burden, especially as he will be allowed to ride of Badger’s back. Later they come Across a house with a swimming pool. Toad and the Newts go for a swim whilst the other animals Drink the water. They leave when lights go on in the house and when a fat Cat tries to come out and eat the Mice. After a whole day of walking, the animals become tired and begin looking for a safe place to rest. Kestrel is able to locate army land on which they can sleep, however, the animals must first cross a main road in order to reach it. Luckily, they are all able to cross and reach the army land, despite the fact that both Adder and Toad (on separate occasions) were close to being been run-over, saved only by Badger and Fox (with the help of Owl), respectively.

The animals awake the next morning, in the army land to the sound of blasting cannons. The two baby rabbits, in particular, become very scared and are only just stopped from running out onto the busy road (from the previous episode) by the hissing Adder. Fortunately, after Weasel provoked a hive of wasps, the soldiers began running away from the stinging insects leaving the coast clear for the animals to continue on with their journey. Still on the army land, the animals eventually have a small break at a nearby marsh in order to drink and find food to eat. At this point, the Newt family decide it’s too challenging to carry on with the others and so they make their decision to stay and live in the relatively safe-side of the marsh. The rest of the group carry on walking, but one of the squirrels finds a live bullet which they assume was an acorn. They accidentally throw it in a panic and it explodes, ruining Pheasant’s tail. He becomes aggravated, claiming that he has been shot at a very many number of times. Subsequently, when a careless smoker drops his cigarette on the side of the road, a massive forest fire sweeps across the army land, which nearly kills the frightened Toad and may well have killed the Newts. The rest of the group manage to escape the flames by swimming onto an island in the middle of a lake, whilst fire-fighters bring an end to the forest flames. It soon begins to rain and the animals quickly head towards a fence, planning to leave the army land and reach safe farm land.

The animals have reached the fence, but are unable to continue resting due to the slight shower of rain. Toad, however, finds a dry, warm barn for the animals to sleep in and the entire group leaves the army land and enters the nearby farm land. Fox is, at first, worried about their close proximately to humans but Kestrel, Owl and Mr. Pheasant all vow to take turns watching-out for people from a plum tree. However, that night when Pheasant is too busy sleeping, his wife volunteers to take his job, only to result in her being seen and shot by the Farmer (with his dog, Bruno). The rest of the animals have now been locked in the barn with the Farmer threatenerning to kill Fox after finishing eating his meal. Luckily, the animals are able to dig a tunnel out of the barn, lead by Mole and Badger, and out into the outside world. The group are able to carry on walking until they reach a small copse in order to rest; all except Adder who is left behind on the farm.

The usually-cowardly Pheasant volunteers to go back to the farm in order to find Adder. Sadly, he too is shot by the Farmer. Owl then flies on to save Adder and is able to return later the next morning. Meanwhile, after an evening of singing from Weasel, Toad and family of rooks living in the copse, the animals awake to find one of baby rabbits trapped in snare. Luckily, though, she is freed when Owl suggests Mole digs the snare out of the ground. The animals attempt to cross a river. Unfortunately, the rabbits begin to panic and Fox is forced to rescue them. Badger tries to help Fox back out of the river but they are swept away by some massive drift wood.

Far down the river, Badger is spotted tangled in some reeds and Toad, Hare and Weasel rescue him. Kestrel attempts to find Fox but loses sight of him under a bridge. Badger is elected to be the new leader and they decide to press on. However, Toad loses his sense of direction. When they come to a Fox Hunting Reserve they meet a Male Owl. He tells them the way.

It is revealed that while under the bridge in the previous episode, Fox managed to climb on board a boat, which sailed into a local town. Fox takes refuge in an alleyway. There, he meets a cat named Tom and agrees to hunt for mice in his place in return for shelter. After hunting, Fox rests in a box which is loaded onto a truck and taken to the Fox Hunting Reserve (The Same one from the Previous episode) where he escapes. Fox discovers a fox den and rests inside. Soon, a female fox called Vixen returns and allows Fox to stay for a period of time. Meanwhile, the Mice have three offspring. They stay behind with the Voles after a long debate. Soon, Hare sees all the baby mice dead, killed by a shrike.

Fox and Vixen go hunting. Fox tells Vixen about his friends and how he'd lost them. Vixen tells Fox about the Fox hunts that happen in the area of the Fox Hunting Reserve. Fox and Vixen decide to go look for Fox's friend after meeting the Big Owl from the episode Who Shall Wear the Crown? tells them that had met the other Farthing Animals as they arrived. Else where Mole, unbeknownst to Badger, has 'lost his transport' as the Farthing Wood animals climb a steep hill just out of the woodland. Later the Foxes split up when the see the Scent divided. However, Vixen is in danger when a fox hunt picks up her scent while she is talking to a Thrush feeding her babies, and Fox, hearing the hunt, bravely makes attempts to rescue her. Vixen nearly meets her end, until Adder strikes out at the Master's horse, and the hunt is called off. Grateful for his attempts to rescue her, Vixen is honoured to be Fox's mate, and the Farthing Wood animals make a new friend.

After escaping the Hunt for now the animals come across a large quarry (Mole dug their way in). It is here that they meet Whistler, a great blue heron. He received the name Whistler because of the wind whistling through a bullet hole in his wing when he flies. Whistler saves Toad's life when a carp fish catches Toad in its mouth, when Toad tries to compete against Whistler's fishing. Whistler fetches the carp from the water and returns Toad to the other animals. Whistler then joins the animals on their journey and took the oath. However when the animals leave the Quarry a Hunter and his Dog came out. They sacrificed one of the baby Rabbits which made the Hunter go away.

A busy motorway lies ahead of the animals with a field full of Cabbages on the other side (Which is The Silent Field that will appear in the next episode). All of the animals apart from the Squirrels and the Birds are hesitant to cross it because of the dangers involved. Most want to find another way around but the sound of the Hunting horn (The same one from the episode Friend in Need) can be heard in the distance. They have to cross the motorway. They split into groups and take it in turns to cross. The larger animals like Fox, Vixen and Badger (who definitely carries Mole as always) help the smaller animals along and Whistler carries the tiny mice, the voles and the shrews to the other side in his beak. It is only the prickly hedgehogs who can't be carried over. The hedgehogs try to cross the road but their instincts get the better of them and they curl up when they see a car heading towards them and they curl up and unfortunately die.

Still shaken and grieving for the death of the hedgehogs the animals find themselves in a large field filled with vegetables. The grass-eating animals are overjoyed with the abundance of food for them until Fox notices something is wrong. He believes the field may be poisonous which is why it is called The Silent Field. When it reaches Dusk, Fox, Vixen, Owl and Whistler head for a close by town to get food. Whistlers brings back some Sausages for the meat-eaters and Owl brings back some Lettuce for the Grass-eaters. However Fox and Vixen run away after 2 big Dogs ran up. The Foxes split up but both the Dogs followed Fox and he luckily lost them by a train. The Foxes Arrive back to the other Animals separately. When Fox makes it back a tractor spraying a liquid substance is heading their way. The animals make a run for it. However Mr Rabbit is too slow and is coated in the substance. As the Rabbits panic Fox discovers that the poisonous chemical is in fact only harmful to insects like caterpillars and butterflies. Mr Rabbit is not going to die much to Mrs Rabbit's relief. The Animals have one more trek to White Deer Park which is another close by Town.

During a storm the Farthing animals head into a town and when they find that they cannot travel any further in such conditions they come across a church. Mole finds an entrance into the building through some loose bricks in a wall. The animals safe from the elements settle down for the night. However at Dawn workers cleared the gap where the animals came in trapping them in. Later humans enter the Church for a wedding and The Animals made a run for it. Frightening each other chaos ensues and the animals cause further mayhem in their desperation to escape. While most of the animals try to regroup they notice that some of their friends are missing. Badger and Weasel hid in a wine cellar in the town, The Squirrels were clinging to a telegraph pole on the edge of town, Adder followed the Mice, Voles and Shrews into the long grass and the Rabbits fell in a Pit at a Building Site just outside the town. Fox, Vixen, Owl, Kestrel, Whistler, Mole and the Hares followed Toad.

When escaping the church some of the animals took the wrong turn and ended up in the opposite direction to the rest of the group. However this also happens to be further into the town. Badger and Weasel in a rush to hide, end up in a wine cellar. Weasel is thirsty and drinks from one of the barrels and becomes quite drunk. Badger has to carry her on his back so that he can try and find the others, luckily Owl spots them and leads him back to them. Kestrel finds the Squirrels clinging to a telegraph pole on the edge of town and she leads them back to Fox. Later she finds Adder and the Tiny Animals on a golf course. Luckily she saves them from a huge Lawn mower heading their way. The Rabbits are the last to be found and are discovered in a building site, stuck down a pit with steep sides. Whistler spots them and tries to help them out but they are too heavy. Fox eventually rescues them. Once all the animals are reunited they make the last part of the journey to White Deer Park. All the animals agree that Toad, their guide through the entire journey should be the first to enter the park. They are all greeted by the Great White Stag, who welcomes them to their new home.