[1][2] The main character, Candice "Candy" White Ardley, is a blonde girl with freckles, large emerald green eyes and long hair, worn in pigtails with bows.

There she briefly meets a mysterious boy dressed in a Scottish kilt and carrying a bagpipe, who tells her she is more beautiful when she laughs.

Whilst there, Candy also meets three boys; Anthony Brown, who looks exactly like the "Prince on the Hill", and the Cornwell brothers, the inventive Alistair and the flamboyant Archibald (Stair and Archie).

His true identity remains a mystery until the end of the story and the adoption is never confirmed but continuously disputed, especially amongst the members of the Ardlay family.

Great Uncle William will be sending her, along with Archie, Stair and the Leagan siblings, to London to study at the prestigious St. Paul's College.

It is here she meets and becomes attracted to Terrence (Terrius/Terry) Granchester, the illegitimate child of a British Duke and an American Broadway actress, Eleanor Baker.

Candy sees him for the first time, crying, on New Year's Eve whilst both are aboard the boat to London.

[5] Circumstances divide the pair when Eliza Leagan schemes to have Candy expelled from St. Paul's by manipulating them into a scandal.

After the scandal, Terry leaves St. Paul's to protect Candy's reputation and pursue his aspiration to become a Shakespearean actor.

She is hopeful she will meet Terry and Albert again as all characters embark on their individual life journeys in the United States.

Candy is training to become a nurse in Chicago around the time of World War I,[4] and Terry is pursuing a career as a rising star actor in New York.

During a rehearsal, a stage light comes loose and before it falls on Terry, Susanna pushes him aside, but in the process she gets injured and eventually loses her leg.

Susanna's behaviour becomes erratic, and she attempts to commit suicide, feeling that as long as she is alive she will be a burden for both Candy and Terry.

After a while as a hospital patient, Candy decides to take Albert into her apartment in Magnolia House, to care for him and help him regain his memory.

Albert ultimately regains his memory, and briefly disappears, leading Candy once more to a broken Terry, who is acting at a travelling theatre stage in Rockstown.

Once back at Pony's Home, Neal Leagan, who has fallen in love with her, tries to force Candy to accept an engagement.

Albert reappears and finally reveals his true identity to Candy; he is Great Uncle William.

What remained as a lasting memory within the fandom was the "open" ending of the anime, in terms of the romantic side of the story.

Keiko Nagita had no involvement with the Japanese anime apart from writing the lyrics to the opening and closing credits songs.

In this significantly revised novel edition, Suzanna dies and Candy finds out whilst reading her obituary in a newspaper.

After that, a short letter from Terry addressed to Candy arrives, where he lets her know that his love for her still remains.

The novel ends with Candy in her mid-30s living near Avon river in England, with the man she loves the most as World War II is approaching.

In broad lines most of the plot of the story remains the same as with the previous novel editions, with many minor details having been changed.

Furthermore, she specifies that she wants her readers to imagine the characters' appearances based on the manga illustrations of Yumiko Igarashi as there are almost no such descriptions found in her own novel.

Albert's past is also explored, as a young boy in the Ardlay clan and how he became the mysterious Great Uncle William.

[7] Keiko Nagita also added a final scene where Candy, in her thirties and living near Avon river, greets her beloved as he enters their home.

After the manga had become popular among Japanese girls, an anime series was produced for NET (now known as TV Asahi) that was originally aired on Fridays from October 1, 1976 to February 2, 1979.

Shin-hie Choi starred, alongside Do-hie Kim, Hyo-jeong Eom, Bo-geun Song and Eun-suk Yu.

It was produced by Leo Sutanto and directed by Widi Wijaya aired on channel RCTI in 2007 starring Rachel Amanda, Nimaz Dewantary, Lucky Perdana & Bobby Joseph.

The first two episodes were dubbed into English, with a new theme song and score created by in-house composer Mark Mercury.