A White Shepherd puppy named Bolt is adopted by a eight-year-old girl named Penny. Five years later, Bolt and Penny star in a hit television series called "Bolt", in which Bolt uses various superpowers to protect Penny from the villain, Dr Calico. To gain a more realistic performance, the show's producers have deceived Bolt his entire life, arranging the filming in such a way that Bolt believes everything in the show is real and that he really has superpowers, including a devastatingly powerful sonic scream-like "superbark". After a cliffhanger episode causes Bolt to believe Penny has been kidnapped, he escapes from his on-set trailer in Hollywood but knocks himself unconscious in the process and is trapped inside a box of foam peanuts which is shipped to New York City.