In a snowing day, the spoiled and stubborn Max builds an igloo on the other side of his sidewalk. When his older sister Claire and her friends arrive, Max throws snowballs in the group and they begin a war. Max hides in his igloo, but the teenagers jump over it and destroy his shelter. The upset Max wets Claire's room with snow and then he does not obey his mother and bites her. He runs away home wearing his wolf costume and mentally travels to an imaginary world inhabited with wild things that elect the boy their king.

Eric Goldberg was at one point attached to direct.

Carol:
If I was stranded on a desert island and could only take one thing, it'd be Douglas. We can share him if you want.