The Nut Job.In the fictional town of Oakton City, a purple squirrel named Surly and his mute rat partner Buddy reside in Liberty Park where their thieving reputation has made them outcasts. A group of urban animals led by Raccoon and his cardinal assistant are running low on food for winter. Red squirrel Andie and gray squirrel Grayson compete with Surly and Buddy to scavenge from a peanut cart manned by Lucky and Fingers who are casing a bank. The squirrels' efforts inadvertently end with the cart's propane tank exploding in the park after its cord was bitten by Lucky's pug Precious. The runaway cart ends up destroying and burning the tree, where the animals store their food. Surly is banished and Andie, Buddy, and Mole follow him. In the city, they find Maury's Nut Shop. Adjacent to the bank, it is a criminal hideout used by Lucky, Fingers, their boss Percy "King" Dimpleweed and Knuckles, who plan to break through the wall and replace the bank's cash with nuts. King's girlfriend Lana believes King has gone straight and the nut store is legitimate. Raccoon sends Andie and Grayson to the city to find food, but they get separated when a street rat approaches them. Andie recovers Lucky's dog whistle, which Knuckles threw out and Surly had used against Precious, and threatens to dispose of it if Surly does not share the nuts he is going to take. Surly accepts and unwittingly befriends Precious after threatening her with the whistle. Andie informs the park community of the plan. Raccoon reluctantly goes with the plan and assigns Mole and the Bruisers to go with her. Surly eventually learns from Mole that Raccoon's policy is to control the food supply in order to control the animals, and that Raccoon plans sabotaging the nut bonanza. When Andie does not believe him, Surly leaves after Grayson reunites with them. While collecting the nuts, Surly gets captured by King and his associates, but soon he is freed by Lana...