Jennie

Jennie is a chimpanzee, living in the 1970s.

Naturalist Dr. Hugo Archibald delivers Jennie from her dying mother in the Cameroons and brings her home to his American family. His young son, Sandy, becomes extremely attached to Jennie, but Archibald's daughter, Sarah, resents the chimp. Jennie, through her learning of ASL (American Sign Language), starts to converse and interact with the humans around her.

Eventually, Jennie is released into a wildlife preserve where she simply can not function.