The film is set in 1890s London. Sarah lived happily in India with her father, but when he was drafted into military service he placed Sarah in a boarding school in London. Sarah was lonely, but she made some good friends at school. Suddenly her father was announced dead in a mine accident and Sarah became an orphan. Now she goes on a long and dangerous journey to find her father, who loved her and called her a "little princess".

Young Elli is taken away from her mother and left in a magical land. On her quest to find her way back she meets a scarecrow, a lion and a woodsman.