Hoot recap

After moving to Coconut Cove, Florida, Roy Eberhardt becomes fascinated by a barefoot boy he sees running beside the school bus. The boy, known as Mullet Fingers, is secretly disrupting construction of a pancake restaurant because burrowing owls nest on the site. With help from Mullet Fingers' stepsister Beatrice, Roy learns that the company has ignored the protected birds and begins looking for lawful proof while police officer David Delinko investigates the vandalism. Roy also faces school bully Dana Matherson, whom the young activists use as a distraction. When the company stages a public groundbreaking, Roy rallies classmates to stand over the owl burrows, Mullet Fingers admits his part, and the company's attempts to conceal the birds collapse in front of witnesses. The restaurant is canceled and the property becomes an owl sanctuary. Mullet Fingers escapes custody after a later family confrontation, while Roy, once unhappy about moving, finally feels connected to Florida.

Roy Eberhardt has recently moved with his parents from Montana to Coconut Cove, Florida, and feels out of place at his new middle school. On the school bus, the bully Dana Matherson pins him against a window. While struggling, Roy notices a barefoot boy running rapidly along the street without books or a backpack. No one else seems interested, but the sight gives Roy a mystery to pursue. Elsewhere, construction foreman Curly Branitt finds that survey stakes have been pulled from the future site of a Mother Paula's pancake restaurant. Officer David Delinko begins investigating the repeated trespassing and damage. Roy follows the runner when he appears again, bringing himself closer to the disturbances at the construction property even though he does not yet understand the connection.

Roy's attempts to find the barefoot runner bring him into conflict with Beatrice Leep, a formidable soccer player who is determined to keep the boy's whereabouts secret. The runner is her stepbrother, an independent boy nicknamed Mullet Fingers who avoids his troubled home and survives outdoors. Roy learns that Mullet Fingers is focused on the Mother Paula's construction site, where small burrowing owls live underground. The boy has been delaying construction to keep the animals from being buried when the land is cleared. Roy is sympathetic to the cause but worries that sabotage and secrecy will end badly. Officer Delinko continues to watch the site, while Curly faces pressure to stop delays that he cannot explain to his employers.

Roy and Beatrice become allies as Roy is drawn further into Mullet Fingers' effort to protect the owls. Mullet Fingers has used a series of nonlethal tricks to keep workers away, but the risks are increasing and his refusal to involve adults leaves him vulnerable. Roy helps when the boy is injured, while trying to keep the adults around them from learning more than Mullet Fingers will allow. At school, Dana continues to threaten Roy. The separate pressures of bullying, police attention, and the approaching start of construction make it clear that temporary disruption will not save the site. Roy begins considering how evidence and public attention could succeed where secret sabotage cannot.

Roy investigates the restaurant project more directly and finds reason to believe the company has avoided acknowledging the owls in order to keep its permits and schedule. His father listens to his concerns and helps him understand that a defensible public case will matter more than another act of vandalism. Officer Delinko also sees signs that owls occupy the property, complicating what had seemed like a routine investigation. Roy, Beatrice, and Mullet Fingers continue their uneasy cooperation, and Dana is diverted toward the construction site, where his presence confuses the search for the real saboteur. With a public groundbreaking drawing near, Roy decides that the birds must be made visible to people the company cannot easily dismiss.

Roy tells classmates about the threatened burrowing owls and organizes a peaceful presence at the Mother Paula's groundbreaking. Students stand over the nesting holes, witnesses see the birds, and Mullet Fingers emerges to acknowledge that he has been obstructing the construction. The company's executive Chuck Muckle tries to force the ceremony forward and loses control before the crowd. Kimberly Lou Dixon, the actress who plays Mother Paula, withdraws her support when she learns the site contains owls. Faced with evidence and damaging publicity, the company abandons the restaurant, and the property is set aside as an owl sanctuary. Delinko's patient attention is vindicated, and Curly is retained. Afterward, Mullet Fingers returns to confront his mother, is taken into custody, and escapes again. Roy stays in Coconut Cove with close friends and a new attachment to the place he had resisted calling home.

At the ceremonial groundbreaking, Roy and other students occupy the Mother Paula's site and point out the burrowing owls and their nests. Mullet Fingers reveals himself as the person who has been sabotaging construction, while Roy's evidence and the crowd's presence make it impossible for the company to deny the birds. Executive Chuck Muckle loses control in public, and actress Kimberly Lou Dixon refuses to support the project once she understands what is happening. The restaurant plan is abandoned, and the land is preserved as an owl sanctuary. Officer Delinko and Curly both come through the dispute with their positions restored. Mullet Fingers later returns to his mother's house, where another confrontation leads to his arrest; he escapes juvenile custody and disappears again. Roy remains in Florida with a stronger sense of belonging, having found friends and a landscape worth defending.