At an important palace ball, Babar's advisors Cornelius and Pompadour jeopardize Babar's relationship with Celeste by forcing Babar to take the visiting dignitary's daughter to the dance instead of her.
This story begins to tell the classic tale of Babar's early life with his mother and all the other elephants in the jungle, and how his life is shattered when a hunter kills his Mother and he must cope on his own.