The Land Before Time IX: Journey To Big Water - Plot

Plot

After a period of harsh rain, the Great Valley is partially flooded and covered in debris. Littlefoot rushes to find his friends after the storm ends, but they are preoccupied: Cera and her father are removing a large log from their nesting area, Ducky and Spike are relocating their nest with their family, and Petrie has gotten a cold. Littlefoot is bored and wishes intently for a brother, but eventually explores on his own and discovers a large area flooded by the rains. The adults advise their children to stay away, fearing creatures from the outside may have been washed into the Valley. However, Littlefoot returns and meets Mo, a playful young "swimmer" that had been caught in the floodwater.

Littlefoot quickly strikes up a friendship with Mo, and describes him as his "mud brother" (a pun on blood brother). His other friends are unsure of Mo initially, but also take to him. Mo explains that he is from the "Big Water" and had flown into the valley during the flooding. He confirms that he is alone, but soon after a "sharptooh swimmer" attacks the group. Littlefoot requests help from the adults to help Mo return home, but they refuse, not wanting to risk leaving the Great Valley to aid a strange outsider. A subsequent earthshake separates the children and Mo from the rest of the Great Valley, though also imprisons the sharptooth swimmer in an underwater cavern. Unable to return, they decide to deliver Mo home on their own.

The children follow a river that they believe leads to the ocean. A Diplodocus mother, after a brief misunderstanding, allows them to take refuge at her nest for the night, and the friends are present to witness the hatching of her offspring. The next day, Littlefoot and the others realize that they are nearing the ocean, as they have begun to taste salt in the water. However, the sharptooth swimmer, having escaped from the cave, attacks them that night. The land surrounding the river is steep and slick with mud, and the children are unable to escape. Mo distracts the carnivore, farewells his friends, and lures the sharptooth down the river. Mo has seemingly been killed, but he reappears the next day, unharmed; the sharptooth swimmer had smelled the ocean in the distance and abandoned the chase, choosing to return to the sea.

The children reach the ocean, but Mo is saddened that his friends' must depart. He wishes to remain with them, but the others explain that he cannot, and Littlefoot reminds Mo that the two will always be brothers. Mo reunites with his family and asks them for directions to the "smoky mountains", as the children know how to find the Great Valley from that location. Before leaving, Mo offers to show Littlefoot his home. Littlefoot accepts the offer, and is amazed by the underwater world's beauty. Littlefoot and his friends exchange farewells with Mo and return home, where they are greeted warmly by the relieved adults.