Banjo 1947

After her father dies, Patricia Warren, a nine-year-old girl from Georgia, must leave her home to live with her wealthy but vain aunt Elizabeth Ames Jacqueline White in Boston. Pat Sharyn Moffett insists on bringing her beloved dog Banjo, an English Setter, and travels north in the baggage car so she won’t be separated from him. On the train, she befriends Bill Harry Harvey, a kindly railroad worker who becomes a steady presence in her uncertain journey.

In Boston, the arrival is colored by drama: Elizabeth has recently broken her engagement to Dr. Bob Hartley Walter Reed and is on her way to Bermuda, not eager to accommodate Banjo. She orders the dog to stay outside, even constructing a garden pen that proves no match for Banjo’s persistence, aided by the loyal servant Jeffries Herbert Evans. Pat’s loyalty to Banjo is tested as the dog keeps finding ways to break free, turning Pat’s hope into a quiet struggle for a place in the house.

Pat’s bond with the doctor deepens after Banjo injures a paw during a second breakout, and she takes him to see Dr. Hartley, hoping for mercy from Elizabeth. The doctor, touched by Pat’s plea and the kinship between Pat and Elizabeth, tries to persuade the aunt to soften, but Elizabeth’s resistance lingers. Pat also uncovers the tangled history between her aunt and the doctor, a past that inspires her to try a gentler path to keep Banjo with them.

To tilt the odds in Banjo’s favor, Pat pretends to be ill to secure more visits with the doctor, and the plan seems to work as Elizabeth eases up enough to let Pat walk Banjo on a leash in the garden. Yet the scheme runs into a new snag: neighbors borrow a shotgun to test Banjo’s hunting skills, and a misfire ends up hitting a police car, prompting Elizabeth to decide that Banjo must be sent back to Georgia.

Devastated, Pat runs away in the night and boards a train back toward Georgia to follow her dog. She reaches the swamp and faces a bobcat, but Banjo arrives to defend her. Jasper, Ernest Whitman, appears and shoots the bobcat before it can harm Banjo. Pat is reunited with Elizabeth and Dr. Bob, and they agree that Banjo can accompany them back to Boston, closing this chapter with a hopeful sense that love, loyalty, and a girl’s unwavering determination can bridge even the widest divides.