Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island tortoise on earth, hates a lot of things; people, goats, even his own existence. After forty years alone at the Charles Darwin Research Station, he longs for his extinction to finally come. But when his time arrives, it's not at all what he expects. George is awakened one night in a garden to find himself being asked by nine already extinct animals to lead them on a mission to save mankind. How can one tortoise save the world? Why is he the only one who can lead these animals? What happens if they don't succeed? Despite George's best efforts, one creature is captured, one succumbs to fear, and one creature meets a tragic end. If the dodo and the others fail, they simply return to the splendor of the Garden. For George, his place in the Garden is not assured, which leaves him facing the possibility of being "deader than a dodo".