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

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

Candy departs for Lakeweood together with her raccoon Klint. She hitches a ride with Tom and his father Mr. Steave on their wagon

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

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

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

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

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

Mr. Cartwright has become a friend of Pony's house. He lends his cart so that everyone can visit Tom

Candy declines Mr. Cartwright's offer. She feels the vocation of becoming a teacher, but George comes to seek her

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

Candy gets Klint into St. Paul's College, but he gets her into trouble. The rules are very strict

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

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

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

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

While Candy kept strong all the way to the train station, Candy's emotions soon unravel into despair over losing her dream about Terry once aboard the train. She seeks a lonely spot in the aisle and opens the train's backdoor in the direction of New York, exposing herself to the snowstorm. Before long, with the onset of a fever Candy passes out

A hysterical neighbor wakes Candy to tell her what has become of Albert. Candy rushes over to Happy Clinic, a substandard medical facility, and the carefree but knowledgeable Dr. Martin, who does not seem to consider Albert's injuries very serious

En route to the Graytown construction site, the train is forced to halt because of Tom's cows passing across the tracks; When Candy recognizes him and reveals her destination, Tom advises her not to go to Graytown. He claims it are difficult conditions, not to mention full of criminals. He also tells her that Mrs

When the orphans and Tom still hope to prevent Candy from going to Graytown, Mrs. Pony explains that Graytown still needs nurses, perhaps even more so in those poor conditions. Candy sets off towards Graytown and discovers Klint as a stowaway

Even after a successful surgery, Candy finds that the men automatically assume that accidents are fatal and that a doctor is fed better than a nurse; She also discovers that Dr. Kerry is the sister of the wanted Arthur Kerry Candy took her for on the train. Arthur got into trouble after challenging a thieving administrator in a pet shop where he worked who fired him

Klint helps to free Candy from her bondage and help her escape the tunnel. When Nelsonn sends his dog McKinley on Candy, a masked man intercedes o her behalf, asking for work. Because Candy wants to treat a wound of his and Klint plays with his false beard, Candy recognizes him as Arthur

McKinley finds Dr. Kerry who fell into the ravine and leads Arthur and Candy who went looking for him to the wounded doctor. Nelson and the workers help carry Dr

Graytown is left without a cook. Candy does her best to do both Margot's job and her own, but even with Belle helping out, Candy realizes Nelson will take Belle into the city to find her a foster family and get a replacement cook, because Belle cannot stay in Graytown without a guardian. Meanwhile back in Chicago, Eliza's plot backfires: Arthur was not found, Candy is still free, somebody else was arrested, and Archibald catches her in his room with his mail

Belle takes off with the small cargo train in order to catch the train to Chicago by herself. Hearing the steam whistle that Belle loves to sound, the workers, Annie, Archibald and Candy run outside and run after it. Candy is just in time to jump in the last wagon and climbs to the front from one to the other

Candy visits Pony's Home during her holidays. When Mr. Cartwright visits the orphanage, he needs Candy's help: ever since a few soldiers visited the region and told tales about their trench war experiences, all Jimmy thinks about these days is wanting to be a soldier

Neil drives recklessly through town and wrecks his car. As always a good Samaritan, Candy bandages his scraped hand with her handkerchief. It is the second time that Candy has come to Neil's aid, and he believes himself to be falling in love with her

As the shock begins to subside, Dr. Leonard gets right to the heart of the matter for the reason of Candy's loss of her work: Candy's dysfunctional relationship with the Leagan family. Meanwhile, Albert collapses at work and when he wakes again finds he has recovered all of his lost memories

But it was a trap by Neil to lure Candy to an isolated, lakeside villa in an attempt to "win" her love. Candy repulses Neil's overtures, bellowing out her anger at his childhood persecution of her. Neil locks the villa doors and plans to hold her there until she tells him she loves him

While Candy is still asleep, Albert steals away early in the morning, leaving behind a letter expressing his gratitude for everything she has done for him. Dr. Martin reveals Albert visited him early to say goodbye and left in a car with men in suits

Sitting alone in her now-empty apartment, Candy grapples for some kind of satisfactory perspective she imagines Albert would present if he were there to internalize the death of Alistear. She comes upon an advertisement in the newspaper about how the elusive Grandfather William is interested in coming above-ground, when Neil bursts in and tells her he wants to marry her. She begs him to leave her alone, but to no avail

Candy is thunderstruck to discover that her benefactor "Grandfather" William Albert Ardley has been hiding in plain sight the whole time, ever since she was in anguish over Annie being adopted away from Pony's Home. Albert was too young to fill the desperately needed role of the head of the Ardley family, after his parents died and his aunt Elroy became his guardian, so he wisely applied the principle "Deceive your allies to fool your adversaries." As both recall memories of the past it becomes clear that Albert tried to be a guiding father to Candy as much as he could, while remaining hidden, not only from Candy, but all of the Ardley family