The Story of Heidi is a most tender and touching one. When Heidi is orphaned, she is sent to live with her uncle in his simple home high up in the mountains. Heidi loves the life and her grandfather; she loves the outdoors and the fresh air and he is determined that she should be free to enjoy it all without the burden of convention or study. But Heidi’s life is turned upside down again when she is sent off to live in the city by her strict aunt. Here Heidi finds a different kind of happiness. How can she bring together the two parts of her life.
When Heidi, a five-year-old orphan, is dumped on her reclusive grandfather who lives on a remote mountainside above a Swiss village, he is none too pleased by her arrival. But Heidi quickly wins him over with her cheerful disposition and kindness, and thoroughly enjoys her new life, spending the summer days roaming the Alpine pastures with young Peter the goatherd. Three years later, this rural idyll is cruelly interrupted when her aunt fetches Heidi away to the city as a hired companion for Clara, a rich girl who is disabled. Clara adores her new friend, but the family's strict housekeeper tries to repress Heidi's high spirits and she becomes ill, pining for her mountain home. The resolution of Heidi's dilemma transforms the lives of everyone around her and has entranced readers for generations with its vision of the joys of country life and the power of love and friendship.