As the American Civil War rages, four daughters of an army chaplain, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy March, befriend the boy next door and together they wrestle through the great peaks and valleys that come with growing up in a time when expectations are exacting and roles are ridged. Under the eye of their audaciously indulgent mother, the March girls and Laurie play, fight, dream, tell stories, singe their hair, fall in love, break hearts, and mourn great losses, each attempting to establish their own unique definition of contentment and freedom in spite of society's limitations.