Precocious Pippi Longstocking (Tami Erin) falls off her father's pirate ship and washes up in a small coastal town in Florida. She causes social worker Miss Bannister (Eileen Brennan) no end of trouble and influences two neighbor kids with her mischief-making and infectious attitude. Pippi uses her magic powers to beguile the locals but also to help save some orphans from a burning building.