Parisian schoolgirl and orphan Madeline schemes to save her boarding school and home from being closed and sold by its owner, the severe Lord Covington, whose benevolent wife has recently passed away. Madeline's sweet antics are often a burden to her goodhearted but stern headmistress, Miss Clavel, whose true appreciation of Madeline is revealed when Madeline and a schoolboy named Pepito are kidnapped.