The book starts with an epigraph from John Bunyan’s 17th century allegorical novel, The Pilgrim’s Progress. This passage sets the stage of the journey that the “little women” will take toward virtue and love, suggesting that it is a tale for both education and enjoyment.

Christmas time has come to the March household. However, the four sisters—Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—discuss the prospect that this year there will be no presents. Meg, Jo, and Amy lament: “Christmas won’t be Christmas without any presents,” “It’s so dreadful to be poor,” and “I don’t think it’s fair for some girls to have plenty of pretty things, and other girls nothing at all” (3).

Hearing their distress, Beth attempts to console her sisters that they are fortunate to have each other and their parents. The Civil War has caused a strain in the family; their father has joined the Union Army as a chaplain, and their mother has decided the family needs to live a spartan existence, amidst an atmosphere of suffering and scarcity.

The girls have each received a dollar, and they discuss the gifts that they wish to spend their allowance on. The conversation erupts into an argument over which sister works the hardest: Jo is caretaker to their elderly, irritable, and fickle Aunt March; Meg is governess for impatient children; Beth is consumed by grueling household chores; and Amy must keep up with homework and deal with bullies at school.