While trying to move 40 kids six New York City blocks all by himself, a stressed man accidentally loses a bouquet of a hundred balloons. In that bouquet, a lone black balloon scurries free from the rest. It dies and comes back to life, returning to the city, cruising for a companion. On its beat, it learns that humans are complicated creatures with extreme highs and lows, but full of life nonetheless. A film intended to be for children that turned into a sci-fi urban fable, this is the story of The Black Balloon.