She happens to board a balloon one day, and is excited by her journey until she is caught in a sudden storm and is blown away from her parents and home.

She is in tears until she meets a drummer boy named Tam-Tam accompanied by animal friends who also play musical instruments.

One of the final works credited to Tatsunoko Production co-founder Tatsuo Yoshida, who died in September 1977 shortly before the TV series premiered, it is widely believed that the curly-haired heroine of this series was named after Shirley Temple (indeed, Temple was renamed to Shirley in the French dub).

The series was a success throughout Europe and Latin America in the 1980s under several differing titles, including Temple e Tam Tam (Italian), Shirley la petite fille en ballon (French), and Sabrina y sus amigos (Spanish).

Harmony Gold attempted to produce an English dub to sell to the American market under at least two different titles - Sabrina's Journey and Tiffany's Traveling Band - but Temple the Balloonist has never been released in English.