Pippilotta Delicatessa Windowshade Macrelmint Ephraim’s Daughter Longstocking – That’s her full name, but everyone calls her “Pippi”, including her new friends Annika and Tommy. And that’s where our story begins.

While walking home from school, Annika and Tommy come upon Pippi looking out a window of Villa Villakulla, on old house they thought was uninhabited. After introducing themselves, Annika and Tommy ask about Pippi’s family and Pippi explains that she lives alone in the villa and she sings and dances her way through her story. Tommy and Annika learn that Pippi’s father is a pirate, her mother is in heaven, and Pippi shares her house with a monkey and a horse. Delighted with their new friend, Annika and Tommy invite Pippi to go with them to a carnival. Pippi, of course, says ‘yes’. Annika and Tommy run off home to change their clothes and promise to hurry back.

Soon after Tommy and Annika leave for home, Mrs. Prysselius, a schoolteacher who works with the Child Welfare Board, sees Pippi playing outside Villa Villakulla. Pippi tells her same story she told Tommy and Annika and Mrs. Prysselius makes plans to have Pippi adopted, cared for and sent to school. Pippi takes nothing Mrs. Prysselius says seriously and as soon as Tommy and Annika return, Pippi gathers together a suitcase of gold coins and they all go off to the carnival.

At the carnival, two thieves, Thunder and Bloom, notice Pippi taking gold coins from her suitcase and decide to follow her home, planning to steal Pippi’s money. They wait outside the villa until they think Pippi is asleep and then sneak into the house. But Pippi is too smart for them and with the help of their monkey, Mr. Nilsson; she literally pulls the rug out from under the two thieves and chases them into the night.

The next day Mrs. Settergren, Annika’s and Tommy’s mother, invites Pippi for a visit. Much to Pippi’s surprise, Mrs. Prysselius is there. Pippi does her best to impress the grown-ups with her good manners and knowledge but only succeeds in making a mess of everything. Seeing Pippi’s gold coins, Mrs. Prysselius is convinced that Pippi is not only an orphan, but also a thief, and she calls the police to have Pippi taken away to an orphanage. However, just in the nick of time, Captain Longstocking returns and saves Pippi from the police and from the misguided good deeds of Mrs. Prysselius.

Captain Longstocking decides that it would be best if Pippi comes with him back to his ship. Pippi is overjoyed at the thought of joining her father on his ship until she realizes she may never see Tommy and Annika again. Pippi is torn but, seeing how sad her leaving is making Tommy and Annika, she decides that she should stay at the Villa Villakulla. Her father concurs (after all, life on a pirate ship is not the best possible life for a little girl.) Captain Longstocking waves goodbye to the children and promises to return, very soon. And Tommy, Annika and, of course, Pippi Longstocking, head back to the Villa Villakulla for more adventures.