Kristin Davis went on a vacation 10 years ago and came home with the plot for her new film, “Holiday in the Wild,” that’s just launched on Netflix. She plays a woman who travels to Africa after her marriage falls apart only to find a passion for helping elephants and a potential new man (Rob Lowe) in her life.

“I worked to develop this project for four years, and I have been involved with elephant conservation for about 10,” says Davis, who is also an executive producer on the film. “Ever since I was little, I have loved elephants for no specific reason. In 2009, I was visiting Kenya and it was a dry year. We happened to hear about a lone, orphaned elephant, and everyone knew it would not survive on its own.

“We spent three days searching for her and finally found her. Once I met an elephant, I became obsessed. They called to me. I dreamt of them. It has been a mission to share that with everybody.”

The love Davis has for elephants isn’t just talk. She has been a patron of the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, which runs an elephant rescue and rehabilitation program in Nairobi, Kenya, for more than a decade. Davis was featured in a 2014 documentary about the trust’s work, “Gardeners of Eden,” which she both produced and financed.

The rescue effort to get that young elephant back into the wild became the basis of the plot for “Holiday in the Wild,” which was filmed at the Lilayi Elephant Nursery in Lusaka, Zambia, and at Camp Jabulani in Hoedspruit, South Africa. When it came to filming, every effort was made to ensure the cast and crew didn’t disrupt the lives of the elephants. The majority of the filming involved animatronic elephants, robotic elephants or performances carried out by one of the film’s five puppeteers as the live elephants were available for only four days of the filming.

When real elephants were involved, filming was done around their schedules, such as a scene with Davis and Lowe having a picnic near a watering hole. The crew had to be ready to film and the actors ready to perform as soon as the giant creatures arrived, and they had to be finished whenever the elephants decided to leave. There were no trained animals used in the filming, and no efforts were made to herd the group when needed.

Bringing attention to the plight of the African elephants is the primary purpose, and the romance element was added and the story set during Christmas at the request of Netflix to add more entertainment elements. Davis says the production was lucky to get Lowe to help provide the romantic sparks.

Lowe didn’t bring the same passion for elephants to the project as Davis did, but he has always been a lover of animals.

“I have had all kinds of pets and currently have five dogs,” Lowe says. “I do dog rescues. My wife and I would talk to all the rescue places in our area and take 30 or 40 dogs at a time. We would have a mobile groomer and a mobile vet at the house. We would have pre-screened potential homes for them.

“Of course, we would want to keep them all.”

That connection between man (or woman) and beast is a key plot element of “Holiday in the Wild.” The nursery’s intention is to help young elephants return to the wild, but just like a parent with a child, letting go can be difficult.

Lowe understands that very well because his son, John Owen Lowe, plays Davis’ son in the film. Father and son had worked together before on Lowe’s short-lived series, “The Grinder,” and that’s where they had established ground rules as to how much coaching Lowe could give his son.

“It is just great to be able to mentor a young actor even if it wasn’t my son. I got started acting at a younger age than my son started, and I didn’t have anyone. I just had to figure it all out on my own,” Lowe says.

He found success despite a lack of mentoring, having starred in such productions as “The Outsiders,” “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “The West Wing,” “ Code Black,” “Parks and Recreation” and “About Last Night …” Lowe is also the star of the new Fox drama “9-1-1: Lone Star,” slated to launch in early 2020.

Davis is best known for playing Charlotte York Goldenblatt on HBO’s “Sex and the City,” but since making her professional acting debut in 1988, the Colorado native has appeared in “Melrose Place,” “General Hospital” and “Bad Teacher.” “Holiday in the Wild” reunites Lowe and Davis, who played a husband and wife in the 1999 television miniseries “Atomic Train.”