There, we are introduced to the warm-hearted, precocious eleven-year-old girl Cale, the youngest member of that family, who lives at the Crane Farm with her parents, Ben and Lilly. She has just woken up, and tells us, through voice-over, that there used to be horses in their barn—but now they're probably the only horse farm in Lexington that doesn't have any horses. Her father Ben was once a great horseman, but now his talent is being wasted on making other men's fortunes.This morning, the disillusioned Ben is finally going to let Cale into his life and take her to his work at the racetrack, where we are also introduced to his boss Palmer, and his two employees Manolin and Balon. This day is special because Prince Tariq from the Middle-East is here. He and his brother, Prince Sadir, are rivals. Tariq wants to beat his brother's horse, and he wants a good horse that can do so. Palmer picks out his horse Sonya, a thoroughbred filly. She is a great champion, but after "talking" to her, Ben realizes that she is not ready to race today. However, Palmer still makes her race. She falls and breaks her cannon bone.
A furious Ben tells his boss that he has just killed a great athlete. Palmer thinks they should put the horse down, but because his daughter is there, Ben begs him to spare the horse. His rudeness against Palmer results in the los of his job. Ben says that he'll take the horse. Ben, Cale, Manolin and Balon transport Sonya home and get Pop, Ben's father, to help them. But when Pop—who had been told it was an emergency—arrives at their farm, he says "This is what you geniuses call an emergency in the middle of the night in the rain?" and suggests that they put Sonya down. His relationship with his son is not good at all; they hardly talk at all anymore. But soon, Sonya can stand again. Cale is always thinking about Sonya; now they finally have their own horse! Although her father has told her to leave the wounded filly alone, she still goes out into the barn at night and feeds her Popsicles. Ben sees this as an opportunity to make money; Palmer has shut him out everywhere. Ben sees his friend Bill Ford to get a stud for Sonya. Then he can sell the foal, which might give him $300,000. Pop asks Cale to give her dad a coffee can one night when she is visiting him. It appears to contain $20,000, money that he has been saving just in case. An angry Ben shows up at Pop's farm and asks him why he gives him all this money after watching him having to sell every piece of their land. Pop replies that he doesn't know. Ben tells Pop to stop filling Cale's head with horse stories. He doesn't want Cale to be inspired into spending her life working with horses; he thinks that's no way to make a living. Ben returns to the Crane Farm, where Cale is feeding Sonya chocolate cake in the stable. Ben says that even though they'll sell the foal, they'll still have Soñador. That's Sonya's full name; it's Spanish for "dreamer". Sadly, they learn that Sonya is infertile.
Now, Ben is very depressed. In a conversation with Lilly in the kitchen one morning, he says to her that Sonya has ruined them, to which Lilly responds that she's the best thing that's ever happened to their farm. She tearfully says that Ben should spend more time with Cale, who really wants to be with him. Just because Pop has disappointed him when he was a boy doesn't mean that he has to disappoint her. Ben bitterly says that if Cale hadn't been with him the day when Sonya fell, and he had let them put the horse down, he'd still have his job. Unfortunately, Cale is there and hears his harsh words. Deeply hurt, she runs to her room and locks her door. Ben and Lilly try to make her come out, but Cale, wanting to make her father upset, packs her bag, jumps out through her window and goes to the barn. She intends to run away with Sonya. Ben shows up and accidentally scares Sonya, who runs away in panic with Cale on her back. Cale is now in real danger. Ben drives up next to Sonya with his car and tries to take Cale's hand. He fails, and then he parks the car and successfully catches Cale in his arms when she jumps off. Manolin and Balon catch Sonya—and when they come back they have great news: she is, despite her serious injury, fast enough to race again!
Sonya succeeds to come on third place in a local race, but the Crane family's happiness is short-lived as a man walks up and claims her. That night, Ben talks to his devastated daughter in their now empty stable and explains that he never guessed that Sonya would get claimed. Cale says that he put her out for sale to get some of his money back; that he lied to her when he said she'd always have her; that she wasn't for sale. Ben angrily says that every racehorse in the world is for sale. Cale leaves him stunned in the stable after saying: "She wasn't just some racehorse. She was our horse."
When Ben goes to parent's night at Cale's class, where the parents read their children's recently written stories. Ben reads her story—which is about a king, his castle and a magic horse. While reading it loudly in front of the other parents, he realizes that the king in the story is him, that the castle is the Crane Farm and that the horse is Sonya. He realizes that he shouldn't have let anyone buy Sonya. When he comes home, he sits on Cale's bedside, and the father and daughter share a moment of redemption. One morning, Ben says to Cale that Pop has bought a goat, and asks Cale to help him take it out of the trailer. But the "goat" appears to be—Sonya! Cale is overwhelmed by happiness and hugs the young mare. Ben says that they're "out of coffee for a while". Ben's got yet another surprise for Cale as well—a contract in which Cale Crane is the owner of Soñador. She signs it, and then Sonya's training starts.
Cale decides that Sonya should compete in the 22nd running of the Breeders' Cup Classic — for which the winner's price is $3,000,000! The jockey is going to be Manolin, who earlier in the movie told Cale that he gave up horse racing after a horrible accident in a race when he fell off his horse's back and got run over by three horses. Luckily, Sonya gets a shot in the race. Palmer shows up at their house and wants to buy Sonya. He offers Cale $100,000 and her father's job back, but Cale turns it down, and Palmer walks away.
The Cranes need a sponsor who can pay the fee. They choose Prince Sadir, whos horse hasn't got into the race, but still wants to beat his brother Tariq. Cale, Ben and Pop show up at his mansion and convince him to pay the fee of $120,000 after telling him that Sonya has a chance of beating Tariq's horse. On the race day—six months after Sonya's accident—everyone is really excited, but the horse Goliath's Boy attacks Sonya, whose leg appears to get bad again after the attack. Now, everything appears to be lost—but Sonya is dead set on running anyway. The race begins, and Sonya runs further and further up from last place. Manolin nearly falls off Sonya, but manages to stay on her back. Sonya takes the lead and wins the race, and Cale's dream has now come true! Soñador has won. Now, not only are they rich; but Sonya is a racehorse again, Manolin's a jockey again, and Ben's relationships with his father and daughter are finally good again. The movie ends with Cale sitting on Soñador's back with her arms raised in victory, and through voice-over saying the poem: "You are a great champion. When you ran, the ground shook. The sky opened, and mere mortals parted. Parted the way to victory, where you'll meet me in the winner's circle—and I'll put a blanket of flowers on your back."
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