[4] In the small town of Concord, Massachusetts, during the Civil War, the March sisters—Meg, Jo, Amy, and Beth—live with their mother in a state of genteel poverty, their father having lost the family's fortune to an unscrupulous businessman several years earlier.

Later that winter, Jo so impresses Mr. Laurence with her forthrightness and her beneficial effect on the brooding Laurie, that he invites the March sisters to a fancy dress ball at his sumptuous home.

Mr. Laurence's gruff demeanor is softened upon meeting Beth, who reminds him of the beloved granddaughter he lost, and when he learns of her musical talent, he offers her the use of his grand piano.

The beautiful evening ends on a sour note, however, when Amy and Beth overhear the snobbish Mrs. Gardiner and her daughter gossiping about Marmee.

As usual, Aunt March comes through for the family, but not before Jo has had her beautiful chestnut locks cut off and sold in order to pay for Marmee's trip.

Bursting into tears, Jo reveals that she feels abandoned by Laurie and hurt that Aunt March, who had long promised her a trip to Europe, has taken Amy instead.

Upon her return to the now nearly empty March household, Jo learns that her beloved Beth is dying and spends the next few weeks caring for the courageous girl, who bears her suffering without complaint.

The cast for the David O. Selznick version included Jennifer Jones (Jo), Diana Lynn (Amy), Bambi Linn (Beth), Rhonda Fleming (Meg) and Anne Revere (Marmee).

Of June Allyson's performance, Crowther wrote that "Comparisons of course, are odious, but if memory serves us well, she can't hold a bayberry candle to the Jo of Katharine Hepburn of fifteen years ago.

"[6] John McCarten of The New Yorker wrote that unlike the previous film version, the remake left him "dry-eyed" and agreed that Allyson "tries hard to be as diverting as Miss Hepburn was years ago, even to the extent of imitating her peculiar vocalizations every now and then, but somehow she isn't quite as persuasive as her predecessor.

[10] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally favourable reviews".