Velvet is a teenager in the late 1920s, living in a small English coastal village in Sussex, dreaming of one day owning many horses.

After riding him in a local gymkhana, she and Mi seriously consider entering the Grand National steeplechase at Aintree racecourse and train the Piebald accordingly.

Mi uses his connections to the horse training/racing world and obtains a fake clearance document for Velvet in the name of James Tasky, a Russian jockey.

Velvet strongly objects to the publicity, saying The Piebald is a creature of glory who should not be cheapened in tabloid trash and newsreels.

The novel was made into a more or less faithful, highly successful film version in 1944, starring twelve-year-old Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney, with Donald Crisp, Anne Revere and a young Angela Lansbury.

[6] From 1960 to 1962, the novel was adapted into a thirty-minute American television series, with Lori Martin, Ann Doran and James McCallion.

Working with Arizona Pie, Sarah is selected to represent Britain in the equine three-day Olympic event.

While working with the horse with trainer Captain Johnson (Anthony Hopkins), she falls for an American competitor, Scott Saunders (Jeffrey Byron).