florida, 1941. mrs. jumbo sadly looks on how babies are delivered by the stork to other circus animals. as even a baby elephant makes a pretty heavy package, hers is the last to arrive, but soon becomes the laughing stock of the others because of his big ears, getting meanly named "dumbo" by the others. when mrs. jumbo can not take the public making fun of her son, she is locked up as "mad elephant", and dumbo finds himself all alone. a mouse named timothy comes and scares the mean herd. he encourages dumbo and tells the circus director to make dumbo the top (literally) of an elephant pyramid stunt which ends up literally bringing the house down, and dumbo is given the job of "baby clown" in a repetitive, humiliating and dangerous number as punishment. to cheer dumbo up, timothy brings him to go see his mother. the next morning, they find themselves up in a tree with a bunch of crows, who discover that dumbo can fly.