While Satoshi and his friends are taking a break, Team Rocket suddenly appears and unsuccessfully steals Pikachu. The trio is sent blasting off along with Pikachu, but him and Nyarth become separated from their respective groups and are forced to work with each other to find Satoshi and Team Rocket.

Satoshi, Kasumi, and Takeshi arrive in a town where heart-shaped objects are being taken from the town's residents by a Juppeta. The group discovers that Juppeta's motive for taking the items is because it used to wear a heart-shaped hair tie, which was gifted to it by its long-lost owner many years prior. Satoshi and his friends manage to reunite Juppeta with its owner, which turns out to be the local Nurse Joy.