Buddy is the true story of Gertrude "Trudy" Lintz (Rene Russo), an eccentric socialite in the 1920s, who is the most generous animal keeper since Noah. On her New York estate, she, her physician husband Bill (Robbie Coltrane) and her loyal assistant Dick (Alan Cumming) care for a menagerie as extensive as a zoo's: a kennel of championship Briard dogs, Rex rabbits, guinea pigs, schools of tropical fish, flocks of geese and rare pigeons, a stable of horses, two homed owls, three snakes and a kitten.