- Anna Sewell's "autobiography" of a horse named Black Beauty is here expanded to include the adventures of the humans who surround the horse.
- Squire Gordon is giving a house party, and his young daughter Jessie, along with her friend Harry Blomefield, are playing games with the little children. Squire Gordon has given Lord Wynwaring eight hundred pounds to build a new chapel. But Jack Beckett, Lady Wynwaring's nephew, steals the money. Beckett is caught by George, Jessie's brother, who threatens to expose him. The next day, George bids his mother and sister goodbye as he sets off on a fox hunt. But he is killed when he falls from his horse. Beckett places the stolen money in George's pocket, and then tells Jessie her brother is the thief. To keep her family's honor, Jessie promises to marry George when she becomes of age. Harry Blomefield, who loves Jessie, cannot understand her decision.
Several years later, Farmer Grey sells Black Beauty to Squire Gordon. Meanwhile, Beckett has been getting deeper into debt. He stalls his creditors by telling them that he is going to marry the richest heiress in the country. The Squire, furious at this arrangement, rides into town during a storm and orders Beckett to leave town. On the road back, Black Beauty saves his owner's life by refusing to cross a damaged bridge. When Mrs. Gordon takes ill, the horse brings the doctor, who saves her. When Lady Wynwaring gives a house party, Beckett demands that Jessie elope with him. She reluctantly agrees. That day the Squire and his wife have driven into town. Their stables catch fire, but Black Beauty is able to escape. Beckett's servant asks the couple to witness a marriage, not immediately recognizing who they are. The Squire stops the marriage and takes Jessie home. The Gordons leave the country, hoping to cure Jessie of what they feel is her infatuation for Beckett.
Black Beauty is sold to the Wynwarings, but is mistreated. The horse is sold again, until he gets a kind master in a London cabby. Eventually, the horse is sold to the Blomefield family. Harry Blomefield immediately recognizes the horse. Now, the Gordons are returning to England. Harry and Beckett talk in the stables, and Beckett boasts that he is going to marry Jessie, who is aboard a train. Harry then overhears Beckett's drunken servant threaten to tell Jessie the truth about Beckett. Beckett is still determined to meet Jessie at the train, take her to London, and marry her. Beckett sets off on horseback. Harry mounts Black Beauty, and in a dramatic race in which his horse leaps over an express train, beats Beckett to the station. There, Harry tells the Gordons the truth about Beckett, and Jessie is saved from an unhappy fate. Black Beauty finds a home again with the Gordons.
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