When Aunt Dete gets a new job in the prosperous city of Frankfurt, she takes orphan Heidi to live with her grandfather Uncle Alpi, a solitary man who lives on his small farm, high up on the alpine pasture above Maienfeld in the Swiss Alps. After some initial difficulty settling in to her new life, Heidi, with her sunny disposition and cheery personality, not only wins the heart of the old man but also finds a friend for life in Peter, the young goatherd.

The carefree and happy life Heidi has been leading on the pasture comes to a sudden end when Dete returns and takes Heidi back to Frankfurt with her. Heidi is to become the companion of the wheelchair-bound Clara Sesemann. Instead of running barefoot through the lush mountain meadows, Heidi’s life now becomes one of neat and tidy dresses and lessons in mathematics, and all under the watchful eye of Miss Rottenmeier, the strict housekeeper who takes an instant dislike to the naturally free-spirited Heidi, and who makes no secret of the fact that she wans see Heidi gone, the sooner the better! Before long though, Clara and Heidi have become best friends. As a result of Heidi’s sunny nature, and to the surprise of her physician Dr. Clasen, Clara’s mood and health begin to improve, in contrast to Heidi who is becoming increasingly homesick for her previous life in the mountains.

When Heidi can no longer bear being away, arrangements are made for her to return home, with the firm promise that Clara will come to visit her. Uncle Alpi and Peter are overjoyed to finally have Heidi back home with them. When Clara makes the trip to the Alps, not only is it the long-wished-for reunion for the two friends, but it also proves to be the catalyst for the improvement in Clara’s health.