9. Our tale begins with Mr. and Mrs. Fox poaching squabs, “whatever they are”, from a local farmer. After successfully plucking a few squabs from the squab house, Mr. Fox comes upon a fox trap. Being a confident and inquisitive creature, he triggers the trap, accidentally trapping both his wife and himself. As alarms sound and dogs bark, Mrs. Fox reveals that she is pregnant and forces Mr. Fox to vow that, if they survive, he will give up stealing and take up a respectable profession. Fast forward two years (twelve fox-years), and we are reintroduced to the fox family, now one member larger. Mrs. Fox has settled into family life, content with cooking cleaning, caring for her now teenaged son, and painting occasionally in her free time. Ash, Mr. and Mrs. Fox's son, is introduced as an awkward teen fox, small for his age and desperate for his father's attention and approval. Mr. Fox is discontent and feels unfulfilled with his new family life and his job as a newspaper journalist. He complains of feeling “poor”, to which his wife responds, “we are poor”. It will not be long before Mr. Fox takes action.
10. Mr. Fox's midlife crisis does not come in the form of a new car, a gambling or drinking binge, or a young fox girlfriend. Not fantastic Mr. Fox; he purchases a house in the base of a tree, which is rare for a fox, that overlooks the farms of the three meanest farmers known to man and beast alike, Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. This purchase comes after a stern warning and a valiant attempt at dissuasion from Mr. Fox's lawyer, Badger. Badger sites that housing prices aren't in the buyer's favor and that the area around those particular farms are exceedingly dangerous for an animal of his species. It isn't long before Mr. Fox, accompanied by his superintendent, Kylie Opossum, hatches a plan to steal from the nearby farmers. Unbeknownst to his wife, Mr. Fox and Kylie successfully steal chickens and geese from 2 of the three farmers. On the night of the third heist, Ash attempts to join the raiding party, but is turned away by his father, who instead invites Kristofferson to join. The Heist is successful and the party returns home with potent apple cider as their trophy. Though Mr. Fox had originally planned one last heist, the one has turned into three and there is no sign of stopping. He has fallen off the wagon.
11. The farmers have taken notice of the recent thefts and have devised a plan to rid themselves of this new fox problem. They have located Mr. Fox's home and perched themselves outside, ready to fire. As Mr. Fox and Kylie exit the dwelling, prepared for another night of thieving, the farmers spring their ambush and, though they fail to mortally wound either thief, they manage to shoot off Mr. Fox's tail. Inside the house, Mrs. Fox is now well aware of Mr. Fox's broken vow and as she prepares to deliver her wrath, they notice the farmers are chopping down the tree. The next few hours, or fox weeks, are spent tirelessly digging and tunneling away from the fast approaching farmers, who have enlisted the help of their farm staff as well as heavy machinery. The Fox family is tired, hungry and near surrender when a slue of other burrowing animals, that had been displaced by the farmers' fury, tunnel into their view. Mr. Fox, realizing that he has endangered much more than just his family, devises a plan to tunnel into each farmer's storehouse and abscond with the lot of their chickens, geese and cider. He tells Mrs. Fox and the others to wait in Badger's flint-mine and prepare for a feast as they venture off to get the goods.
12. Mr. Fox, Badger, the boys, and a few other able animals return with enough food and cider to feed an army, which is perfect because the entire community is there and starving. During the feast, Ash decides, in an attempt to win his fathers support and affection, to sneak into Bean's home and retrieve his father's lost tail. He brings Kristofferson along but, once inside Bean's house, they are distracted by cookies and Kristofferson is caught. Here we approach the ending of this tale, and as we intend to examine the ending and what makes it unique, we will not go into great detail just yet. Suffice it to say that, again recognizing that his arrogant ways were at the root of these events, Mr. Fox decides to sacrifice himself in a trade for his nephew. This is short lived, and Mr. Fox plans a rescue mission to save Kristofferson from a terrible fate. The plan is successful, Kristofferson is saved, and everyone is happy, for the moment at least. The farmers are still waiting and the community grows hungry again. Because they took all of the farmers stores and not just what was necessary, the tunnels to each farmer's storehouse are useless and they are again out of food. The story ends with the discovery of a tunnel leading into a supermarket owned by Boggis, Bunce, and Bean. Mr. Fox has again found a way to feed the community and, even though they will now be eating processed foods and high fructose corn syrup like the rest of us, they are safe and they are together.
