Shoebox Zoo is an urban fantasy TV series made in a collaboration between BBC Scotland and various Canadian television companies. It is mostly live-action, but with CGI used for the animal figurines. The show centers on the story of a young girl named Marnie McBride, who is given a shoebox containing four toy animals by a mysterious old man at a junk shop, as a gift for her 11th birthday. These magical toys have the power to come alive on Marnie’s command, and they’re on a quest to find an ancient book that once belonged to a great and powerful wizard.

Arkansas furniture maker Grins Jenkins is a cheerful man and loving father to his five kids, as well as the life of every party in their small town. When his wife Sharon, who used to be the 'bad cop', slowly dies of TBC, so does Grins' sense of fun. The kids refuse to keep mourning forever, but dad practically retires from the world and turns his back, opposing them enjoying life again. Then Christmastide arrives, and son Alvin refuses to let his kid brother's dream be spoiled.

A couple's idyllic life is shattered when authorities accuse them of child abuse and take away their three young children. When they desperately search for the source of the rumors about them, their suspicions lead them to a young woman who recently arrived in their small town, but they can't believe that this person they befriended would turn the town against them.

After the death of her husband, Jody and her daughter Samantha return to her home town. Sometimes she leaves Samantha with her old friend Winn. Only after an accident a doctor discovers that she has been abused - apparently by Winn! Jody reports immediately to the police and tries everything to avoid complications. But when it turns out that Winn still might win the case by some procedural tricks, she commits an act of desperation.

A tomboyish juvenile delinquent, Paschal Draney, is sent to live in a foster home run by a well-known horse breeder where he befriends a Thoroughbred seemingly crippled by a congenital eye defect.