In outer space, a
United States-owned
satellite explodes due to a malfunction. One of its last remaining pieces, a surveillance
beacon, falls to Earth and lands in
Australia, only to be swallowed by a large
crocodile. At the
CIA, Agent Buckwhiler and Deputy Director Reynolds reveal that, in the wrong hands, the beacon's data could change the axis of power in the world, so they send two agents, Robert Wheeler and Vaughn Archer, to Australia to retrieve the beacon. Department Director Ansell also secretly hires an operative of his own, Jo Buckley, to go and retrieve the beacon before Wheeler and Archer, so Ansell can take Reynolds' job. In Australia, the crocodile that swallowed the beacon lives in a river next to the house of Brozzie Drewitt, a violent
cattle station owner who is planning to kill the animal for preying on her cattle. Because of this, the Department of Fauna and Fisheries sends one of its workers, Sam Flynn, to Brozzie's house. He attempts to convince her to hire some professionals to relocate the crocodile instead, since killing it would be illegal. Despite Flynn's suggestion, Brozzie attempts to kill the crocodile later that night, only to fail. Meanwhile, the Crocodile Hunter
Steve Irwin and his wife
Terri are filming an episode of
their TV show on the "less loveable of Australia's wildlife" when they are hired by Flynn to relocate the crocodile that has been bothering Brozzie. After some difficulty, Steve manages to catch the crocodile and successfully gets it in his boat. Wheeler and Archer are nearby using GPS technology to track the beacon. When the two agents see Steve and Terri in their boat with the crocodile (and therefore the beacon) on board, they assume that the Irwins have found the beacon. They inform the CIA, who assume that the Irwins may plan to use the beacon to pay for a multimillion-dollar expansion to
Australia Zoo. Steve and Terri board up the crocodile in a crate and put it in the back of their truck to drive to a new river system. Wheeler and Archer follow them from behind in a
Land Rover Discovery, and when Wheeler hops on the top of the Irwins' truck, Steve believes them to be
poachers who want to steal the crocodile. Steve climbs up on the roof and, after a brief fistfight, manages to knock Wheeler off the truck. When the Irwins reach the
Thomson River, Steve opens the crocodile's crate and discovers that it has defecated. In the excrement, he sees a shiny metal object (the beacon), which he mistakes to be an improperly discarded children's spinning top toy. Steve and Terri successfully release the crocodile in the river, but Wheeler and Archer show up again in a boat, determined to get the beacon. Jo Buckley shows up in an
ultralight and throws sticks of
dynamite down on Wheeler and Archer's boat, destroying it and knocking them into the river. Steve believes that he and Terri are caught up in the middle of a "poacher war" and, not wanting the dynamite to hurt the newly relocated crocodile, uses a rope to lasso the aircraft, causing it to crash in the river, though Buckley survives. She swims to shore to inform Ansell via a phone call that she failed to retrieve the beacon. Ansell, now on the run from the CIA after his interference in the mission was discovered, is found by the police and arrested. Due to Wheeler and Archer's failure to retrieve the beacon, the CIA decides that it is time for drastic measures, so they call up American President
George W. Bush in the
White House and request permission to use
military helicopters to find the Irwins and get the beacon. In Australia, Steve is ending his show and playing with the beacon, when the military helicopters arrive. In an epilogue, Steve explains that he returned the beacon to the CIA without hassle, but remains oblivious to its significance. Brozzie becomes a volunteer for the Department of Fauna and Fisheries, while the CIA punishes Wheeler and Archer for their failure by sending them to work at the Irwins' zoo as volunteers. All parties involved have trouble adapting to their new environments, but Steve assures the audience that he will help them. ==Cast==