The March family, mother, and four daughters make the best of life as their father fights with the Union Army. After a year, the wounded father returns, and the family rejoices. But their family picnic takes an ominous turn when he sights enemy scouts.

As the Rebel army advances toward the March family's hometown, the father returns to the war. On the way home from church in a heavy rainstorm, Beth finds a stray kitten suffering from the weather and nurses it back to health.

The Rebel forces arrive and take control of the town. While looking for a wooden box for the kitten Milky Ann, Jo discovers a runaway slave hiding in the storage shed. His name is John, and he has escaped from the Southern army.

Amy and her sisters shelter John under the floor while Rebel soldiers search for him unsuccessfully. Mother sees him off on his dangerous trip north to safety, supplying him with food and money for the journey. Then the battle begins in earnest.

As the battle becomes more violent, people flee from the town. The March family is finally forced to leave their home.

Amy and her family spend the night on a small hill. The next morning, they return to their house only to find it burned and destroyed. They must move north to stay with Aunt March in New England.

The family arrives safely in Newcord, but Aunt March fails to meet them. When they arrive at her house, they interrupt her afternoon nap, putting her in ill humor. Instead of a happy family reunion, they must suffer her biting criticisms.

Amy and her family must stay with Aunt March until they find a new home of their own. While Mother goes house hunting, the girls help with the housework. It is a busy day!

Jo, who has written plays and stories, begins a novel. She wants it to appear as a serial in a newspaper. She meets with the editor of a local newspaper, but is angered by his lack of interest.

Anthony, the newspaperman, reports his impressions of Jo's novel. What he really wants, however, is to hear her experiences of the war. He admires Jo because she speaks so easily and pleasantly.

Jo and Aunt March take a walk together and visit the harbor. There Aunt March reminisces, telling Jo her wonderful memories, and the sorrow she has endured.

The March children are determined to find a new house but discover that it is not as easy as they had imagined. Jo and Amy go out in a carriage to look without success.

After Anthony hears the March family is trying to find a new home, he takes them to the house his cousin manages. It is octagonal and strange, but they like it.

A new term begins, and Amy goes to a nearby school. Her teacher is quite strict and does not allow candy in the classroom. Amy, however, shares forbidden treats with her new friends.

A grandson comes to stay with Mr. Laurence, who lives next door to the March family. The boy is intrigued by the laughter coming from the March household. The sound is so distracting he cannot study.

Meg works as a tutor for the King children from the richest family in town. Meg is thrilled when she is invited to a party they are giving. However, the next day a theft occurs in the household, and Meg is suspected, putting an end to her party plans.

Jo visits Aunt March, who is in bed recuperating from angina. When Jo reads the newspaper to her Aunt, she learns of a very interesting speech made by President Lincoln.

Meg and Jo are excited to receive invitations to a party. But Jo has a problem, standing too close to fire has scorched her best dress, and now she has nothing to wear. Mending the dress as well as she can, Jo decides to wear the damaged party gown.

Meg and Jo attend a dazzling party. While Meg mingles and dances, Jo leans against the wall, trying to hide the scorched mark on her dress. But her disappointment turns to fun when she meets a shy but engaging young man, Mr. Laurence's grandson Laurie.

Jo hasn't seen Laurie for a while, so she throws a snowball at his bedroom window. He appears and explains he has been sick with a cold for a week. Concerned, Jo pays a cheerful call to inquire about his health.

It is the day before Christmas, but the March children have no money to buy gifts. Unexpectedly they receive a dollar each and rush off to buy presents for their mother.

The March sisters receive Bibles from their Mother and put the lessons they learn into practice right away. When they hear about the poor Hummel family, they give up their Christmas breakfast and spend the morning caring for the family's needs.

Amy and Jo take a walk and, along the way, meet their neighbor, Mr. Laurence. Inviting them to tea, they listen as Laurie plays the beautiful grand piano. They listen with rapture but are surprised to see tears well up in his eyes.

When Beth plays Mr. Laurence's grand piano for the first time, she is so absorbed in its beautiful tone that she loses all track of time. Beth is so late, Meg goes to fetch her and meets Laurie's handsome tutor Mr. Brooke at the door.

Every day Beth goes next door to play Mr. Laurence's piano. She wants to make him a pair of slippers as a gift but cannot afford the materials. Jo helps her out, giving her the money she needs to make a beautiful pair.

Though Mr. Laurence seems a stern and frightening presence to timid Beth, he is touched and delighted by her music and kindness. In return, he gives her a wonderful gift, a piano that had once belonged to the daughter he had lost.

Though sweets are forbidden, Amy's school friends enjoy sneaking treats during recess. Amy brings candied limes for all her friends, except Jenny. Jenny reports to the teacher, who takes the limes and, to Amy's humiliation, punishes her with a cane.

Laurie invites Jo and Meg to the theater to see a play. Amy is hurt at being left out and decides to get even with Jo. In a fit of anger, she throws Jo's manuscript into the fire, destroying the novel that Jo has worked so long and so hard to write.

Amy and Jo have not spoken since Amy destroyed Jo's manuscript, and Amy is feeling remorseful. When Jo leaves to go ice-skating, Amy runs after her, planning to apologize. But before they work out their differences, Amy falls through the ice.

Jo and Laurie rescue Amy from the freezing river. Jo blames herself for the accident, since her disagreement with Amy kept her from warning her sister about the thin ice. Comforted by their mother, Jo and Amy apologize and reconcile with each other.

Meg spends a vacation with her fashionable friends Sally and Annie and enjoys the high life. When Annie's sister Bell attempts to perk up Meg's dowdy party dress and turn her into a real lady for an evening, everyone does not appreciate the results.

Jo works for her beloved but crotchety Aunt March. When her Aunt travels to a hot spring for her health, Jo gets a welcome vacation and begins to make plans.

Laurie invites the March sisters to a lakeside picnic. They have a wonderful time at the outing and begin some enduring new friendships.

Amy goes fishing with John's young brother Tom hoping for a dinner of trout. She has a happy time but becomes very tired and falls asleep. Jo startles her from a frightful dream.

Unable to sleep, Meg goes to Jo's room for a late night talk. Meg, Jo decides, has fallen in love with Laurie's tutor, Mr. Brooke.

Jo waits impatiently after delivering her novel to the newspaper office. Laurie takes her to the office to check things out, but they are unable to learn anything until ...

The March family receives news that Father is seriously ill. Mother immediately arranges to travel to Washington, where he is hospitalized. Desperate to raise money for Father's care, Jo sells her beautiful long hair.

The sisters know their Mother's absence is a test of their character and abilities, and they try hard to keep up their work and their spirits. But the more cheerful they try to be, the more gloomy they feel.

The sisters receive a letter from Mother assuring them that Father will recover, and they plan their letters to her, setting her mind at ease.

In her Mother's absence, Beth looks after the poor Hummel family. The baby is sick, and while Mrs. Hummel hurries for a doctor, the infant dies in Beth's arms. The baby died of scarlet fever, the doctor reports. And before long, Beth is sick too.

Beth has scarlet fever and her worried sisters struggle with the crisis. Meg and Jo, who have already had the disease, care for Beth, while Amy is sent to stay with Aunt March. When Beth takes a turn for the worse, her sisters send an urgent telegram.

Beth's condition continues to worsen, and the doctor warns, "If her fever doesn't break soon, she will die."

The family rejoices as Beth's health improves. One day Amy meets the newspaperman Anthony, and he sends a message to Jo, telling of an opportunity to pursue a writing career in New York.

With Beth's recovery, Amy returns home. The sisters are delighted to be back together, but Meg's happiness is clouded by a letter from Mr. Brooke.

Meg's mother scolds Laurie for the hurt he caused forging a letter to Meg. To protect Meg's feelings, they agree not to tell anyone. Laurie's grandfather hears about the reprimand, and when Laurie refuses to tell him the details, Laurie is punished.

Though Beth is feeling much better, she must remain indoors, and she longs to play in the snow. Jo and Laurie bring her presents and build a snowman for her. On Christmas Day, Father returns home accompanied by Mr. Brooke.

Father is home for the holiday but plans to return to the war as soon as he has fully recovered. The next day, Brooke proposed to Meg, and she joyfully accepts.

With the arrival of spring, the war ends and Father is home to stay. The March's have a party to celebrate Beth's recovery and Meg's engagement. Then Jo sets off for New York with high hopes for a career as a writer.