Sara Crewe's (Shirley Temple) widowed father is sent to the Boer War. Little Sara is sent to a boarding school in Victorian England. This is expected to be a temporary situation until Sara's father returns from the war. When Crewe is reported killed in action the school's evil head mistress turns Sara into a scullery servant. Sara does not believe that her father is really dead. She suffers with dignity, looking for him in local hospitals, until he...