Sara Crewe moves from Africa to London with her father. He goes off to war, so he sends her to a prestigious boarding school where she is under the strict direction of the headmistress. She is bullied by her classmates and becomes friends with an eccentric girl and one of the young servants. Sara is notified of the death of her father and as the loss of his fortune, but is allowed to stay at the boarding school but as a servant. She shares the food she receives with others and reads the Bible to her friends. One of her father's friends searches for her unsuccessfully. Later, he befriends a poor servant girl that lives next door, only to find out that it is Sara and adopts her.