Sydney Vetter is an upbeat, imaginative third grader with hard-working parents, an annoying older brother, and a teacher who belittles students for having stuffed animals. Life is fine until her principal arranges for a school safety training that ends in a lockdown drill. This frightening idea of gun violence gets stuck in Sydney's head. As luck would have it, she wins a stuffed chimpanzee she names Chimpie. It's a huge surprise to both when they find out they can talk to each other. Sydney confides her fears to Chimpie and starts to make plans that could create even worse problems. What can a Chimp do to help?