Living in a nursing home is all eleven-year-old Bird knows. Her grandmother turned their large Victorian house into a small, offbeat nursing home where the eccentric residents become Bird's lovable and unique family. But after two of the residents pass away, Bird's feelings of loss for her mother are reawakened. She seeks solace with Mr. Briggs, the last remaining resident, and with Pearl, an elephant Bird meets at a traveling carnival. Pearl has her own problems. Blamed for a bizarre accident, she's become a liability for the failing carnival. They can't afford to keep her, and the owner hatches a plan to get rid of Pearl. After a chance meeting between Mr. Briggs and Pearl, Bird thinks she's found the solution to everyone's problems. But has she put the old man and the elephant in danger? Set in the heart of New Hampshire's White Mountains, Elephant and Bird is told in alternating voices and follows Bird and Pearl as they both deal with memories- the ones we want to treasure and the ones we want to forget.