An idyllic early life spent exploring the rainforest with her zoologist mother Elena and archaeologist father Cole has done nothing to prepare Dora to face down the most unpredictable creature on Earth, the American teenager. Sent to stay in the city with her abuelita and her cousin Diego, Dora finds herself in a blackboard jungle where her wilderness skills do her little good.

A school field trip to the local Natural History Museum seems like familiar territory to the intrepid traveler, until she and three friends are abducted by a band of thieves who need her to track down her parents and what could be the richest archaeological find in history: Parapata, the ancient Lost City of Gold. Transported to Peru, Dora and her friends are rescued from the bandits by Alejandro Gutierrez, a mysterious jungle inhabitant. Dora and her simian sidekick Boots lead a trek into the unknown to save her parents and solve the mystery behind a centuries-old lost civilization.