This newest version of Louisa May Alcott's tender novel is considered to be among the best as it chronicles the lives of four sisters growing up in the mid nineteenth century. The story is set in New England during and immediately after the Civil War. The four March sisters Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy are living alone with their mother Marmee. Their father has left to fight in the Union Army and their standard of living and social status has been greatly reduced. The story primarily focuses upon Jo, a budding writer of adventure and crime stories. As the seasons turn and years pass the girls grow up. Meg marries her former tutor Brooke, Beth is damaged by scarlet fever, and Jo spurns Laurie after he proposes. Marmee advises Jo to celebrate her independence and Jo moves to New York where she becomes a trashy novelist under the pen name "Joseph." In New York she meets Friedrich Bhaer a German philosophy professor. She feels an instant connection to him. Meanwhile Amy is in Europe studying art when she encounters Laurie who has become a playboy. After a family tragedy and at the behest of her mentor the professor, Jo changes her writing style and becomes Louisa May Alcott.