12-year-old Max Duncan becomes the most powerful boy in the world when he gains the power to absorb the abilities and physical characteristics of any animal he touches. Lost and separated from his family during a vacation in the dense Amazon jungle, Max is chosen by the Earth Spirits as the latest in a long lineage of planetary defenders. Entrusted with a mystical artifact known as the Animus Stone, Max gains the power to absorb the abilities of any animal he touches and transform himself into a human-animal hybrid for seven minutes at a time. Taking on the attributes of lizards, lions, tigers, elephants, spiders, dolphins, and more -- sometimes the transformations are gross, weird and bizarre -- Max has a power no one else in the world seems to have. Joined by his faithful friends, Chris and Jenny, the three young heroes gradually find a way to use Max''s abilities to protect the planet and all its many creatures.