Amy comes across as winsome, romantic and a bit spoiled as the youngest. Their mother, Marmee, is a wise matriarch and mid-19th century feminist who teaches her girls to live beyond what society has allotted for them.

Meg, Beth, Jo and Amy dream big dreams about the perfect husband. Days are spent curling one another’s hair, acting out Jo’s plays in the attic and reading letters from their father.

They make a new friend when their neighbor takes in his grandson, Laurie. The young man is fresh off the boat from Europe and is learning his grandfather’s banking business. He becomes the brother they never had.

As each girl matures, she chooses the type of woman she will be, the man she will marry and the priorities that will guide her destiny. For Jo, that includes earning respect as a writer. Like many adolescents, Jo is torn between love of family and a desire to experience the world. It’s universal teen angst, Victorian style.

With Marmee’s help, Jo moves to New York City where she writes, teaches and works at a boarding house. That’s where she meets Friedrich Bhaer, a middle-aged German philosophy professor who becomes her mentor, friend and eventually her fiancée.

Informed that Beth’s health is failing, Jo returns home to be with her sister. After Beth passes away, Jo discovers a trunk full of things she treasured—mementos from her youth. Inspired by Beth’s life, Jo puts her heart into writing a personal novel which is later published, giving the world a glimpse at the most important thing in her life . . . her family.