The backyard of Polar Bear's Café needs weeding, but Penguin seems to be the only one taking things seriously. Later, Penguin finally works up the courage to confess to Penko, asking her out every day for a week. However, it turns out he inadvertently asked out seven identical girl penguins, leading to disaster when they all show up on the day.
Polar Bear, Panda, Penguin and Grizzly go on a camping trip together, where Penguin and Grizzly find they have a lot in common whilst trying to keep Polar Bear and Panda in check. Later, Rin Rin asks a high school girl to accompany him to the zoo; the girl accepts, believing it to be a date, only to find that he just wanted someone to talk to about how cute Panda is.
Polar Bear, Panda, and Penguin go to a water park. Penguin takes along his nephew, but ends up being cowed by Mama King Penguin, while her son and Penguin's nephew become fast friends. The Penko sisters have also tailed Penguin there, while Panda is on the receiving end of King Penguin Mama's grousing about how emperor penguins (like Penguin) are considered superior — and a trio of Pygoscelis penguins out to sell penguin cards. Sasako, on the other hand, rode the train too far and arrives late at the water park. After becoming amazed by the taste of Polar Bear's Café's brand of black coffee, a man named Masaki decides to become the pupil of a tree kangaroo in order to learn how to roast coffee beans.
Panda imagines a dream life living on his own. After struggling to find a place that meets his expectations, Panda, along with Penguin, check out where the other animals live. Later, Polar Bear and Grizzly run a stand together at a summer festival, joined by a relative of Panda's, Lesser Panda. After selling everything, the gang enjoy the sights of the festival.
The trio of Pygoscelis penguins from the water park try to figure out how to sell their excess of penguin cards, eventually settling on creating a concentration game with them, which becomes a hit. Meanwhile, Penguin ends up having to date all the Penko sisters equally, but still has trouble telling them apart. Sasako suggests he give the sisters differently colored ribbons to better identify them, but it backfires when they decide to trade them with each other.
Mr Handa meets up with Polar Bear to ask his advice on how to ask Sasako out, but Polar Bear seems to be more interested in the food where the meeting takes place. Meanwhile, Sasako winds up serving several good-looking men who come into the café, which worries Panda and Penguin. Later, Panda Mama goes to buy walnuts and learns the trick of stuffing the bag full from Mama Red Squirrel, and then endures a lecture from King Penguin Mama on how to eat at an all-you-can-eat cake buffet. The group then decides to eat at Polar Bear's Café, where they end up taxing his sanity.
Panda decides he wants to become someone's apprentice but is rather picky about who his master is. He eventually settles on becoming Sloth's apprentice, but quits due to not being able match his levels of laziness. Later, Polar Bear abruptly tasks Sasako with being the emcee of a sport competition for animals (in which Handa is the only human participant), while Panda Mama and Mama Red Squirrel quarrel over how to prepare rice balls.
Penguin puts on an art exhibition, although none of the paintings are original and go unappreciated by the customers. After Polar Bear and Panda see the exhibit, they and Penguin discuss what hobbies they and other café regulars have. Later, as Polar Bear gets Grizzly to help out with a few things, he tells about how they first met.
As Full Time Panda takes on a side job, he starts to worry when he learns a temp Panda will be coming to the zoo, feeling he might be replaced. As Temp Panda arrives and acts rather sternly towards the other pandas, a ballot is held as to who should be the central panda. Full Time Panda comes in last, though Temp Panda moves onto another site regardless. Meanwhile at the Grizzly Bar, a Tiger, Wolf and Lion have a little reunion. As they lament how they've lost their youth, Polar Bear, who used to be a rap artist (469MA), gives them a surprise performance as a present.
The zoo animals from the Polar Bear's Cafe and the wild animals from Grizzly's bar face off against each other in a baseball match. At the beginning, the zoo team starts to struggle due to some of the animals getting easily distracted. However, Polar Bear manages to win the match by having all the Red Squirrels bat, guaranteeing ball runs. During the interval, the Red Squirrels teach Masaki about how coffee changes taste depending on how much it has been roasted, and he learns from Tree Kangaroo the unpleasant secret behind his favorite coffee, the "Jacu Coffee".
Polar Bear attempts to fill in for Panda but is questioned by the police. As expiation, Panda decides to give Polar Bear a day off by working at the café in his place, though it's not as easy as he thinks. Meanwhile, Rin Rin is invited out drinking by Full Time Panda, who is curious as to why he considers Panda to be cute but not him.
As Penguin is put under the pressure to choose one of the Penko sisters, Llama helps him to differentiate between them, but this soon backfires. As the pressure builds, Panda questions the Penko sisters on why they like Penguin, leading them to realize they don't like Penguin after all. Later, Panda Mama goes with King Penguin Mama to a concert by porcupine pop group Yama Arashi (which is based on the Japanese pop star group Arashi).
Panda becomes depressed as the penguin hero show appears to take customers away from the panda corner. Rin-Rin suggests to Panda that the zoo put on a photo contest to attract more customers. Meanwhile, Masaki has a go at roasting coffee, learning the meaning behind hand picking coffee beans. Despite some initial interest in the photo contest, the panda corner is still overshadowed by the penguin show, which Penguin also participates in. Thus Polar Bear suggests the Panda family put on their own performance, which proves to be a big hit.
Wolf ends up quitting his job at a bakery, so Tiger recruits him for his sweets shops. After Wolf hears about a position at a famous bakery from Panda-Mama, Tiger encourages Wolf to go for it, and he manages to get the job. Later, the gang hear from Llama that Penguin has been visiting the neighboring town's Brown Bear Cafe. As Polar Bear decides to check it out, he learns Penguin has gained a crush on the waitress penguin there, deciding not to come to Polar Bear's Cafe until he works up the courage to ask her out. He eventually confesses but gets rejected, thus returning to Polar Bear's Cafe.
Sloth starts working part-time at the cafe, though it doesn't prove easy with his speed. When asked why he wants to work, he says he wants to buy Sasako dinner to repay her for all of her help, though Sasako says she needn't do so as he was the one who helped get her job in the first place. Later, Handa asks for Polar Bear and Lesser Panda's help in figuring out what to get Sasako for Christmas. Despite their plans failing, Handa manages to think of something and ends up giving it to Sasako when he runs into her.
The pandas look for ways to hibernate at the zoo, but Handa calls them out on it. Grizzly takes Polar Bear shopping for a pillow to sleep on during hibernation, but Polar Bear doesn't seem to be interested in that. When Grizzly does get to hibernate, he is rudely interrupted by Polar Bear, who takes him to the driving range. When Panda and Penguin turn up, Grizzly, cranky from lack of sleep, takes them all out to a hot pot bistro.
Panda wonders whether he'll get a present for Christmas — until Rin Rin shows up with a knitted pochette for Panda, which the latter accepts reluctantly. Penguin, eager to show off his storytelling, tries in vain to find a party to appear at before deciding on Bar the Grizzly. Panda and Mei Mei argue over whose picture should be sent to Handa as a Christmas present, and Llama and Alpaca use their wool to create scarves and other garments.
Polar Bear ropes in everyone to do some spring cleaning around the cafe before Panda-Mama brings a salmon for everyone to have hotpot. Later, Polar Bear, Panda, Penguin, Sasako and Llama spend New Year's Eve together, where they reminisce about the past year. They are soon joined by the other animals to see the New Year in.
Fed up with Polar Bear's annoying puns, Grizzly and Penguin try to get everyone in town to beat Polar Bear at his own game. Later, Masaki is told how coffee can taste different depending on how it's prepared, and wonders if he can win over the Red Squirrels with advice from Polar Bear. Afterwards, after a long day at work, Mr. Full-time Panda and Mr. Llama decide to have a few drinks. They later invite Rin Rin, who takes the drunk Panda and Llama to Grizzly's bar, where everyone there gets drunk into the morning.
After spending the previous day spending time together with him, Panda is shocked to learn that Full-Time Panda has been transferred to a zoo in Singapore, leaving behind a letter expressing his thanks for all the times they spent together. Whilst being incredibly saddened by Full-Time Panda's leave, he agrees to work full time until another panda is hired, causing some worry amongst his friends. When a Valentine's couple end up insulting Panda after two weeks of straight work, Penguin stands up against them. Panda soon cheers up after a new part-time panda is found and gives his thanks to Penguin.
Rin Rin and Mei Mei find they have some common interests and work together to think of a plan to get closer to Panda and Handa. However, Rin Rin ends up catching a fever, so Mei Mei decides to instead look after him. Later, Polar Bear and the others go to the frozen lakes to do some smelt fishing, though soon get distracted. After Grizzly helps to catch a whole bunch, Polar Bear sets up an igloo cafe to make use of their ingredients.
The younger penguins set up a display for Hina Matsuri, which goes a little awry when the cafe-goers make their own contributions. Grizzly is called in to help them set it up, only to realize that, besides Sasako, there are no girls around to celebrate it. Later, Polar Bear develops a fever and goes to the animal hospital for some medicine. Panda and Penguin decide to come over to look after him, only to end up catching fevers themselves.
The Pygoscelis Penguins are approached by a TV studio to do a televised version of South Pole Squad Penginger alongside Yama Arashi, with some of the other animals making cameos. The segment follows the Penguingers as they fight to rescue Yama Arashi from the evil Emperor Penguin. The broadcast is a hit and helps make the zoo more popular. Meanwhile, Polar Bear teaches Masaki how a coffee's richness differs based on how it is prepared. He later learns Tree Kangaroo will let him start roasting his own coffee beans.
Grizzly is visited by his mother, who embarrasses him a little when she starts serving home cooking in his bar. After trying it for himself, however, it soon turns out to be a big hit. Later, Llama, Sasako and the others visit their hometown to find a time capsule Llama buried five years ago. Upon arriving, however, they discover the tree he buried it under is in the middle of a private property. Luckily, they manage to get Badger to dig under the property and retrieve the time capsule. Inside, they find an audio cassette featuring a song Llama's past self sang.
Panda becomes curious about what Penguin does when he's not at the cafe. Whilst his investigation doesn't really help him learn Penguin's secrets, he does learn new things about some of the other animals. Later, Polar Bear becomes downhearted when Penguin expresses interest in moving house, though feels relieved once he hears he just intends to renew his apartment lease. Afterwards, everyone gathers around to have a cherry blossom viewing party, looking back on the year they've spent together.