Synopsis - Little Women

Massachusetts during the Civil War 1861-1865

Prologue

In the dark attic of the March house, Jo sits, tired and depressed, writing in her notebook.  Her childhood friend Laurie opens the attic door and it is revealed that he has married Jo’s younger sister, Amy.  The two argue, and it becomes apparent that they cared deeply for each other, but something has kept them apart.Frustrated, Jo turns back time to discover happier, lighter memories.

ACT I
Jo is still in the attic, but it is two years earlier, and she and her sisters Meg, Beth, and Amy are teasing each other while doing their chores. The game is truth or fabrication, and Laurie has to learn the game for the first time.  After the game, Laurie tauntingly tells Jo that his tutor, John Brooke, keeps Meg's glove because he loves her. Jo, alone, sketching a story, fearfully denies that Meg might love him too.

Two weeks later, in front of the March house Mr. Brooke courts Meg while Jo and Laurie watch, hidden.  Jo urges the family to reject him and it is decided that Meg is too young to be married.   When Mr. Brooke returns, Meg begins to reject him but is interrupted by Cecilia, the girls' aunt. As Cecilia scorns Mr. Brooke for being poor, Meg becomes resolved to accept him. Her family celebrates; but Jo accuses Meg of abandoning her.

The following summer, in the March family garden, preparations for the wedding are being made.  Meg and Brooke adapt their parents wedding vows. A feverish Laurie pleads for Jo's love. She spurns him; stung, he flees. Beth, secretly ill, collapses as Meg cries for help.

ACT II
One year later, in the offices of the Daily Volcano, a New York City fiction tabloid, a triumphant Jo sells a story.  She has moved to the city to give Laurie time to forget about his proposal to her.  Back at her boarding house, she writes to her increasingly fragmented family. The letters reveal that Meg now has twins, and Amy is visiting England.  Later that night, a new acquaintance, Fredrich Bhaer, invites Jo to join him at the opera.

At the boarding house, Jo and Friedrich Bhaer engage in a flirtatious debate, while simultaneously in Oxford, Amy tests Laurie’s feelings for Jo. At home, Beth rages at the piano, flinging herself at the keys. Mr. Bhaer ardently recites Goethe to Jo but is interrupted by Alma's desperate telegram. Jo spurns Mr. Bhaer and flees to Concord.

Three sleepless nights later, Beth dozes as her family keeps vigil. Jo bursts in; Beth bids her family leave. Beth urges Jo to accept her impending death, while Jo rages against the unfairness of it.  Beth falls asleep and gently dies.

At the March house, the following spring, Cecilia baits Jo with Amy’s letter of happiness together with Laurie. Cecilia reveals that she has revised her will so all her property will pass to Jo and tries to convince her of the allures of solitude.  Refusing, Jo retreats to the attic.

As in the beginning, Jo, distraught, stands in the attic alone. Laurie, appearing, again reminisces; but now Jo rejects the past. Her sisters materialize as memories: Jo, in emotional exorcism, celebrates and releases them. Bhaer — her future — appears and Jo extends her hand to him.