Seventeen-year-old Buddy has spent most of his life trying to escape the Lower East Side slums of New York City. Working as a delivery boy to support his family, Buddy wants to become an artist, a dream he's sure will never be realized. But that all changes when a delivery job puts him face-to-face with Mr. Joey Drew, the eccentric owner of an animation studio. Mr. Drew takes Buddy under his wing as an apprentice, thrusting him into a world unlike anything Buddy has ever seen before.