Meg, faithful and gentle, Jo, independent and energetic, Beth, quiet and shy, Amy, amiable and precocious–the four sisters live vigorously and happily at home with their gentle mother while waiting for their father to return from the Civil War. Helping each other, they challenge their fates and grow up to become wonderful women.

Tales of Little Women originally aired in 1987 as one of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater programs. Many staffers from Studio Ghibli such as Yoshifumi Kondo were involved in multiple production positions. Tales of Little Women was licensed and dubbed by Saban Entertainment, and broadcasted on HBO in 1988 in North America. This made it one of only three World Masterpiece Theater programs to be dubbed in English.