When a wealthy man loses his fortune investing it in a diamond mine and dies shortly thereafter, his orphaned daughter loses everything and become trapped in a life of drudgery. Forced to work at the school she was previously being educated at to pay off the debt her father owed, Seira's once-beautiful life has transformed drastically. Her days are now filled with hunger, hard labor and abuse. Even so, the young girl remains pure-hearted in spite of her ill-treatment by letting her imagination help her deal with her many hardships.

Tie-in with the Japanese live-action drama produced at the same time, which made a number of changes from the novel on which it was based. New characters were added and names were changed- including the main character, who was given a Japanese surname and her given name was altered from the English "Sara" to the Japanese "Seira". The novel's original 19th century London setting was changed to modern Japan.