Lauder Sherman (Shirley Temple), who is only 6 years old, is an innocent and lovely little girl. She is naive and lovable. Her father's soldiers jokingly call her the Little Colonel. Lauder's mother Elizabeth (Evelyn Venable) is the daughter of a colonel in the Confederate Army. She falls in love with Jack from the North, but is opposed by her conservative father (Lionel Barrymore). In the end, Elizabeth chooses love, and her father breaks up with her. Six years later, the little colonel and his mother return to their grandfather's house. Time has not diluted the gap between father and daughter, and the old colonel still treats his daughter coldly. The appearance of the little colonel broke the awkward situation. With her wit and cuteness, she gradually bridged the rift between her grandfather and mother...