Captain Ralph Crewe, a wealthy English widower, has been raising his only child, a daughter named Sara, in India where he is stationed with the British Army. Because the Indian climate is considered too harsh for their children, British families living there traditionally send their children to boarding school back home in England. The Captain enrolls his seven-year-old daughter at an all-girls boarding school in London and dotes on his daughter so much that he orders and pays the haughty headmistress, Miss Minchin, for special treatment and exceptional luxuries for Sara, such as a private room for her with a personal maid and a separate sitting room (see parlour boarder), along with Sara's own private carriage and a pony. Miss Minchin openly fawns over Sara for her money, but is secretly envious and dislikes Sara almost from the outset.
Intelligent, imaginative and kind, Sara sees through flattery and remains unspoiled; she embraces the status of a 'princess' accorded by the other students, and lives up to it with her compassion and generosity. She befriends Ermengarde, the school dunce; Lottie, a four-year-old student given to tantrums; and Becky, the stunted scullery maid.
Four years later, Sara's eleventh birthday is celebrated at Miss Minchin's with a lavish party. Just as it ends, Miss Minchin learns of Captain Crewe's unfortunate demise due to jungle fever. Furthermore, the previously wealthy captain has lost his entire fortune, investing in a friend's diamond mines. Preteen Sara is left an orphan and a pauper with nowhere to go. Miss Minchin is left with a sizable debt for Sara's school fees and luxuries, including her birthday party. Infuriated and pitiless, she takes away all of Sara's possessions (except for an old black frock and her doll, Emily), and makes her live in a cold and poorly furnished attic, forcing her to earn her keep by working as a servant.
For the next two years Miss Minchin starves and overworks Sara, turning her into a menial servant and unpaid tutor, with the prospect of turning her into an under-paid teacher when she is old enough. Most of the students take their tone from Miss Minchin, but Sara is consoled by her few friends and uses her imagination to cope with her bleak existence. She continues to be kind and polite to everyone, even her abusers, in the belief that conduct, not money, make a true princess. On one of the bleakest days when she herself is ravenous, she finds a coin and buys six buns, but gives a starving beggar-child five of them.
During this time Mr. Carrisford moves into the house next to the seminary. He is an extremely wealthy invalid come from abroad and retains Mr. Carmichael, a solicitor who lives nearby. Sara has often observed Mr. Carmichael's big and loving family, whom she has dubbed the "Large Family" – while they are equally curious about her and call her "the little girl who is not a beggar".
Mr. Carrisford is revealed to have been Captain Crewe's partner in the diamond mine venture. Thinking all was lost and both suffering from severe illness, Carrisford abandoned Captain Crewe and wandered in a delirium. When he recovered, it was to find Crewe dead – and the mines a reality. Extremely rich but suffering both ill health and pangs of conscience, he returns to England and makes it his mission to find Sara, though he does not know where to look.
Meanwhile Ram Dass, Mr Carrisford's Indian servant, climbs across the roof to retrieve a pet monkey which has taken refuge in Sara's attic. He sees the poor condition of her room and, touched by her courtesy and demeanor, sets out to discover her history. To distract his master from his own sorrows, he tells Mr Carrisford about the "little girl in the attic". Between them they devise a scheme whereby Mr Carrisford becomes "The Magician", a mysterious benefactor who transforms her barren existence with gifts of food and warmth and books – snuck in by Ram Dass.
One night the monkey again visits Sara's attic, and she decides to return it to Mr. Carrisford next morning. He learns that Sara is Captain Crewe's daughter; Sara also learns that Mr. Carrisford was her father's friend – and The Magician.
Miss Minchin pays a visit to collect Sara, but is informed that Sara will be living with Mr. Carrisford from now on; not only is her fortune restored, she is now heiress to diamond mines. Miss Minchin tries to retrieve the situation, going so far as to threaten legal action if she does not return to the school, and that she will never see any of her friends again, but Sara refuses and Mr Carrisford is adamant. Becky becomes Sara's personal servant and, with her newfound wealth, Sara makes a deal with a baker, proposing to cover the cost of food given to any hungry child.
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