Heidi 1952

In a quiet Swiss Alps village, Heidi, Elsbeth Sigmund, lives with her grandfather, Alp-Öhi Heinrich Gretler, in a snug mountain cottage, and she spends her days in the high meadows with her friend, the goatherd [Peter] Thomas Klameth.

The village parson visits and invites them to join the community for the installation of the new church bells, followed by a festival where the children help hoist them. Heidi hopes this trip will help her make friends and perhaps start attending school in the village, but tensions simmer as Alp-Öhi is blamed by some locals for a fire that damaged five houses and the church tower. He denies the accusation, remembering that he lost his only son—Heidi’s father—fighting the blaze, and that his wife died of grief shortly after. Aunt Dete, Elsie Attenhofer, who had earlier cared for Heidi, leaves her in the Alp-Öhi’s care when she takes a job in Frankfurt.

Dete later goes to Frankfurt to work as a cook at the Sesemann household, where Mr. Sesemann, Willy Birgel, a wealthy widower, seeks a companion for his wheelchair-bound daughter, Klara, Isa Günther. Dete proposes Heidi as a match for Klara, and Heidi travels to Frankfurt with her aunt to meet the girl she would help. In the Sesemann home, Heidi quickly wins over most of the staff, though Miss Rottenmeyer, Anita Mey, the governess, remains strict and suspicious. Sebastian, the kindly butler, Theo Lingen, grows especially fond of Heidi, and her lively presence helps Klara in every way as their bond deepens. Through Heidi’s care and encouragement, Klara begins to walk again, a development that fills Mr. Sesemann with gratitude and leads him to decide that Heidi should stay indefinitely—even as Heidi wrestles with a longing for the mountains she misses.

Soon the household is unsettled by what seem to be nightly hauntings, later revealed to be Heidi sleep-walking in distress. Dr. Classen, Carl Wery, identifies this emotional strain and counsels letting Heidi return home, while arranging that Klara will visit during holidays. Heidi’s return home restores the harmony between Alp-Öhi and the villagers, and on Sunday the pair join their neighbors for church, marking a new, peaceful chapter for everyone in their mountain valley.