While
Mr. Jones, the owner of Manor
Farm, invites the Pilkingtons to a gathering to talk about his debts, the animals gather in a meeting where
Old Major, the
Middle White boar, explains that
humanity is their enemy and that they can overthrow the humans with
revolution, calling for a life of
equality and
prosperity. Major teaches them a song called "Beasts of the World", but while the animals are singing, Jones, hearing the noise coming from the barn, goes to investigate, only to accidentally shoot and kill Major with a
shotgun. Jones goes into town for a
drink without feeding the animals. Upon returning,
Boxer, Manor Farm's
shire horse, helps the animals break into the food shed. They accidentally awaken Jones, but the animals quickly chase him, his wife and men off the farm and into town. A
Large White boar named
Snowball takes control of Manor Farm, renaming it "Animal Farm" and putting down the Seven Commandments of "
Animalism". To commemorate the occasion, Snowball raises a green flag with a white hoof and horn on it. Meanwhile, a
border collie named Jessie gives birth to puppies.
Napoleon, a
Berkshire boar, and
Squealer, a
Tamworth boar, call for a secret meeting in which he has Pincher, a
rottweiler, swear loyalty to them, and gets hold of Jessie's puppies to train up. The pigs secretly begin hoarding
apples and
milk for themselves. Determined to prevent revolution from spreading to other farms, Pilkington leads an
invasion into Animal Farm with some villagers and locals led by
Frederick. Snowball has planned for this and the animals launch a counter-attack. The men flee. Pilkington considers working with the animals. Snowball's plans to build a
windmill to better the animals' lives are opposed by Napoleon, who summons Jessie's now-grown puppies to chase Snowball out of the farm. Napoleon decrees the pigs will decide the future, and the animals begin to build the windmill. Pilkington learns that some of the animals can speak
English and that they can trade. Jessie tells the others that she saw the pigs living in the
farmhouse and sleeping in the
beds; it turns out Napoleon and Squealer altered the sleeping in beds commandment. Later that night at the Red Lion Inn, Pilkington laughs at how he's been taking advantage of Napoleon's inexperience, selling him cheap farm equipment. Napoleon blames Jones and his wife blowing up the windmill on Snowball, and the
hens will have to surrender their
eggs to the
market because of a food shortage. When the hens oppose, Napoleon makes feeding a hen punishable by death. Napoleon's second-in-command, Squealer begins making
propaganda films, while the alcohol and killing commandments are altered into "no animal shall drink alcohol to excess" and "no animal shall kill another animal without cause". During the rebuilding of the windmill, Boxer is injured. When the time comes for Boxer to be transported, Jessie and
Benjamin, a wise
donkey, suddenly realize that the van taking him away is from the glue factory. Napoleon is paid by Pilkington for selling Boxer to the glue factory. That night, Jessie watches as Pilkington and his wife dine with the pigs in the farmhouse. Napoleon reverts the farm's name to Manor Farm. While watching the meeting through the warped window, Jessie sees that Napoleon and Pilkington's faces have become so alike, she cannot tell the difference between them. Muriel the
goat and Benjamin notice that the final commandment, "All animals are equal", has been extended to include "but some animals are more equal than others". Now seeing Napoleon and Squealer are no better than Jones and Pilkington, Jessie, Benjamin, Muriel, and some of the other animals escape. Years later, the escaped animals return and investigate the remains of Manor Farm, having long collapsed following the end of Napoleon's reign of terror. They find Napoleon and Squealer are dead, having perished from their own dictation, though a few animals have survived the fall, including Jessie's puppies, who all recognize her as their mother. Later, Jessie finds that a new family has purchased the farm (though it is unknown what happened to Mr. Jones and his wife), and vows to help them avoid the mistakes of Jones and Napoleon. ==Cast==