At Pony's Home, an old church and orphanage run by Miss Pony and Sister Mary, young Tom discovers that something is amiss outside. When Miss Pony and Sister Mary go outside to investigate, they find two abandoned babies, Annie and Candy White. Over the next decade, the girls become best friends who try to sabotage visits from possible future parents in order not to be adopted.

Annie thinks more and more about having parents. To console her, Candy takes her on a picnic without telling the Pony House where they are going. Candy just leaves a letter explaining that they will return before nightfall. During their journey, they are swept away by the current of a river but brought back safely to the Brighton house.

The Brightons pretend to have a barbecue at the orphanage to ask to adopt Candy, but she wants to stay with Annie so she forces them to change their mind, which makes them fall back on Annie who agrees to be adopted.

Candy's life is punctuated by the passage of the letter carrier, Mr. Mathieu: she harasses him to get letters from Annie. But one day, Annie, under the pressure of her adoptive parents, writes her a farewell letter. In her sadness, she wanders to the hill where she meets a young man in a Scottish outfit who encourages her and whom she calls her "prince of the hill".

Candy departs for Lakeweood together with her raccoon Klint. She hitches a ride with Tom and his father Mr. Steave on their wagon. Mr. Steave expresses his doubts about the Leagans and advises Candy to be strong and never cry. From the very moment of her arrival, Candy is the victim of the nasty pranks by the Leagan children, Neil and Eliza.

Candy wins the sympathy of the servants, but Daniel and Elisa continue to play nasty tricks on her. She hides Klint in the stable after trying to abandon him, but Daniel and Elisa take advantage of this to blackmail her. She runs away and meets a handsome boy at a flowery gate who reminds her of her prince from the hill, which encourages her to stay with the Legrands.

Candy attracts the wrath of the Legrands again and they punish her. So she decides to make an effort and become a real lady, but the Legrands want to make her a servant, so she runs away again and meets Archibald who is gallant.

Elisa takes Candy to the city, but only to be a carrier. Elisa abandons her there, but Candy meets Alistair who helps her to come back home very quickly despite some adventures. Candy is invited to the party that welcomes Aunt Elroy who is going to live here (and at which she hopes to find her prince), but only because of her new friends.

At the party, Elisa makes fun of Candy's outfit, but her friends put on casual clothes to support her. During Aunt Elroy's speech, Archibald makes Candy laugh, which brings shame on her. Archibald and Alistair make her a dress, and she gets a dance with Anthony at Elisa's expense.

Unhappy with Candy's performance, the Legrands move her to the barn, but Sister Maria and John come to visit her, so she must keep up appearances, despite Elisa's protests. But the visitors discover the truth and Sister Maria gives her recommendations. Anthony, in compensation for Candy's difficult life, promises her a special rose for her birthday.

The Brightons visit the Legrands, but Annie must not show that she knows Candy. She is offered a horseback ride, but a trick by Daniel and Elisa wraps up the horse, and Candy must go to Annie's rescue, who shows her friendship by giving her a ribbon.

Candy discovers roses in the barn, but ends up understanding that it is Daniel who wanted to anger Anthony by making her look like a thief. She implicates him, but he says that the cat scratched her hands and accuses Candy of having stolen the ribbon, which discredits her. She flees to the river where she is saved by Albert, a vagrant, to be brought back by her three friends who have discovered the truth. Anthony gives her a new variety of rose, tender Candy.

Neil attempts to poison the horses, however, a shadow rushes into the barn and punches him, before running out again just as Candy arrives. Eliza blames Candy for Neil's black eye at the first opportunity, and torn between his pride, Eliza's wishes and his mother's insistence, Neil elects to blame Candy. Candy realizes it must have been Albert.

Mr. Leagan returns home from a long absence to find Candy downgraded to a servant, and decides Candy deserves a holiday at Pony's Home. Once there, Candy learns their neighbor, Mr. Cartwright, sold Father Tree to the eccentric Mr. Flannigan from Washington. He wants the tree all to himself, because he believes it would surrender the best business ideas. Candy leads the orphans and farm animals into an insurgency against the workers preparing the cutting and transportation of the tree.

At the Leagans, Candy learns that Dorothy will be sent off to Mexico as an extra hand for the Ardley property. Mr. Leagan is absent again and cannot intervene. Anthony helps Candy to retrieve the horses Eliza and Neil chased out of the barn and compliments her on her lasso throwing skills. The Leagan children chased off the horses as a distraction, so they can frame Candy for thievery. As a result, Mrs. Leagan decides Candy will be sent to Mexico in Dorothy's place.

The day before leaving for Mexico, Candy wishes to say farewell to Anthony, but instead witnesses how Anthony denounces his great-aunt when she orders her cousins never to play with the "thief" Candy. It does Candy's heart much good that all three believe in her, but she does not want Anthony to lose his family over her. She will go to Mexico and write him each day.

Candy discovers that Garcia, her pilot, has a bad temper. She discovers in the cart a poor family who is also leaving for Mexico. She leaves once to find milk for the baby, then she "borrows" the cart to have him treated in the nearest town. To pay the doctor, she has to sell her rosebush, then the family leaves.

Candy saves Garcia from a snake bite and gives him her medallion, but he delivers her to bandits to save himself. Remorseful, he frees her, but she is kidnapped by a motorist.

Candy thinks she will be sold in Europe, but she manages to escape while her friends search for her. She arrives at the Rose Gate to discover that it is George who has kidnapped her, as Great Uncle William has decided to adopt her; the Legrands and Aunt Elroy can do nothing about it, as Uncle William is the absolute master of the Ardley family.

Candy now lives at the Ardley estate, together with the Cornwell brothers and Anthony and a closet full of dresses given by great-aunt Elroy. Neil and Eliza still try to persist in their lies and accusations, embarrassing great-aunt and provoking Anthony and the Cornwell brothers to remind them that Candy is a member of the family. When they make Neil beg on his knees for forgiveness, Candy stops them: without their deception, she would not have been sent to Mexico and Grandfather William would not have adopted her to save her.

To get back at Candy, Elisa takes Anthony into the woods and causes an accident with Tom who is carrying milk. Anthony brings Elisa, injured, back home, then fights with Tom who called him a coward. For this, Anthony is punished and confined in a castle in the woods with a ban on contacting Candy, who would have a bad influence on him.

Despite the ban, Anthony and Candy correspond, first by carrier pigeon, then by a balloon designed by Alistair, which arrives at Elisa's house. Aunt Elroy discovers that Anthony wants to participate in a rodeo and tries to dissuade him, but a clever campaign convinces her to let him participate. And Anthony wins the rodeo.

An incident reveals that the prize of the rodeo was a calf. Unable to keep it, Anthony leaves with Candy to find a way to get rid of it before managing to sell it to Tom's father. So they decide to spend their money on small pleasures, and visit the fortune teller who seems to see a bad omen for Anthony.

The bad omens are piling up but do not dampen Anthony's good mood. A fox hunt is organized to officially welcome Candy to the Ardley family. Candy and Anthony isolate themselves from the group, and as Anthony prepares to reveal the identity of Candy's prince, his horse catches his leg in a trap and throws his rider off, breaking his neck.

The whole family is in mourning, and Anthony is buried in the cemetery, Candy being relegated to the church. Aunt Elroy sees Candy as a bird of misfortune and Elisa accuses her of being responsible for Anthony's death. Finally, Candy decides to go back to Pony's house.

Candy spends her time moping at Pony's house, so Jimmy, a newbie, doubts her status as a leader and is unpleasant with her. Then he challenges her to running and climbing, ignoring that Candy excels in these disciplines. She wins, earning his esteem.

Christmas Eve promises to be gloomy for Miss Pony and Sister Maria, because Mr. Cartwright, their landlord, wants to enlarge his ranch by taking the house. Candy and Jimmy decide to persuade him not to do so. After a first approach which proves to be a failure, they take all the orphans, dressed as angels, to present their wishes to the men of the ranch. The orphanage is saved!

Mr. Cartwright has become a friend of Pony's house. He lends his cart so that everyone can visit Tom. He proposes to Candy to adopt him. Candy goes for a walk with Archibald and Alistair who tell her that they are leaving for England soon.

Candy declines Mr. Cartwright's offer. She feels the vocation of becoming a teacher, but George comes to seek her. She runs away in the rain with Jimmy, who is already sick and whose condition is getting worse. She is finally not mature enough to be a teacher, but watches over Jimmy until he recovers, then leaves with George.

Candy shows her altruism on the boat that takes her to England: she treats a seagull and then supports the captain who wants to deviate from his course to save shipwrecked people while the influential passengers are opposed to it. But her stubbornness and her good heart make them change their minds, so a party is organized for the captain who risked his place. On the rail, she sees a young man who looks like Anthony.

This young man goes from tears to laughter as Candy approaches him and makes fun of her. Archibald and Alistair come to pick her up and want to take Klint to the zoo because he will not be allowed to go to college. He runs away and is almost killed by a hunter. She goes to the hotel where she thinks she will meet Uncle William, but she finds this young man, Terrence, from a big family.

Candy gets Klint into St. Paul's College, but he gets her into trouble. The rules are very strict. She meets Patricia, but Elisa starts to bully her again and plays new tricks on her using Patricia who doesn't dare to oppose her. Finally, Terrence makes a scandal during the service of the mass. She discovers a hill which reminds her of her own.

Candy is quarantined by Elisa, but Patricia's grandmother steps up and pushes her granddaughter to bond with Candy, all the while wanting to experience life as a middle schooler in a strange way.

A bad trick of Elisa's turns against her, as she was making fun of Candy's letter. So, she sends Daniel and his cronies to take revenge on her, but Terrence intervenes. Alistair and Archibald invite Candy and tell her that Archibald had a fight with Terrence and that Annie will come to the school.

The Ardley's got permission to go out this Sunday and see Aunt Elroy, but Candy didn't request it, so she has to stay. So she joins Terrence at the hill. Then Mr. Brighton takes her to see the horse races and tells her that Annie is coming.

Candy soon learns upon arrival that her delivery trip is not going to be a quick in-and-out operation if Dr. Kreis and his daughter Karen have their way. Dr. Kreis introduces Candy to Karen, who is quite upset that Susanna landed the role for Juliet. Karen believes she is a far better actress and believes Susanna pulled some strings to get the part. As Candy plays the interested listener, she has done her job as confidante a bit too well. Karen decides to keep Candy in Florida. But to Candy's annoyance, Karen prays on her insecurities, claiming that Candy has already lost per definition from her rival Susanna, because actors who play Romeo and Juliet together often end up marrying each other. During the rehearsals for Romeo and Juliet, part of the lights come falling down and Susanna selflessly saves Terry at the cost of her leg that needs to be amputated in the operation room. The next day, Dr. Kreis finally gives his answer that Candy needs to return to Dr. Leonard and Karen will not hold her in Florida either anymore. Karen has already left for New York to replace Susanna. Candy is free to go.

Terry escorts Candy to her hotel room before he sets out for his final rehearsal. Terry wishes to be the most happy he can pretend to be and perform at his best for his Romeo part for Candy's sake who has traveled such a long way from Chicago. Before going home, he wishes her good night unnoticed from under Candy's window. But when he comes home, Terry finds a note from Susanna's mother who reproofs him for not visiting Susanna that day. He goes to the hospital, where her mother tells him that Susanna has started to smile again because of his daily visits. Susanna inquires after Candy, but soon tearful expresses her belief how happy they both must be and how lucky Candy is. The next day, Candy sets out for the theatre with flowers for Terry and encounters the Leagans at the entrance. In disbelief, Neil tears her ticket in pieces and Candy is denied admission.

Susanna disappears to the roof where she plans to commit suicide. Meanwhile Candy has arrived at Susanna's room and reads Susanna's suicide note. She finds Susanna on the roof and saves her from a deadly fall at the lost moment. First, Susanna begs her to let go of her, so that she will not be a burden for either Terry and Candy. In the face of so much sacrifice, Candy realizes she cannot make Terry suffer either. Terry arrives and settles Susanna back into her bed, while Candy weighs the events and emotions. Terry is unable to find any words to explain himself to Candy and can feel her mood as she goes to Susanna's room. In private, Candy tells Susanna that she is leaving for Chicago that same night. Terry runs after her, demanding to bring her to the station. He holds on to her for dear life and presses her close to him. Though Terry's love does her good, Candy knows that she must go. And so does Terry, wanting her to promise him that she will try her best to be happy.