for the injured Mr. March, Beth attempts to care for the poor Hummels in Marmee's absence. However, she contracts scarlet fever, a disease that -- although she recovers -- weakens her heart forever. Eventually, Meg marries Mr. Brooke, much to Jo's chagrin, and Jo rejects Laurie's marriage proposal, citing their too-similar personalities and propensity to argue. She escapes to New York, taking a job as a governess at Marmee's suggestion. Without realizing it, she seems to fall in love with a professor in the boardinghouse, a Mr. Bhaer.

Eventually Jo returns home. Beth knows that her health is failing and that she is going to die, and she does, sadly. Meg has twins: Daisy and Demi. Amy and Laurie get married and have a daughter whose health is poor. Jo and Friedrich Bhaer get married and have a son named Teddy (Teddy Bhaer, hahaha, get it?). Aunt March dies, leaving Plumfield to Jo, and Jo and her husband turn it into a boys' school.

The climax of Little Women is more than likely the moment when Laurie proposes marriage to Jo, and still after all the vicissitudes that Jo went through found the courage to decline the marriage proposal. What this did was to instill in her a sense of self as a woman and as an independent person and was a move that nobody saw coming, maybe not even Jo.

By the end of Little Women, both joy and tragedy have befallen the March family. Beth has died, having never really recovered from the illness she suffered earlier in the story.

Jo, having earlier rejected Laurie's proposal of marriage, has married Professor Bhaer, and the two decide to use the property which has been left to Jo to open a school for boys, where Jo and Professor Bhaer can live out their shared passion for teaching. Earlier, Jo had met the professor while working as a governess in New York.

Meg has married John Brooke, who had been Laurie's tutor earlier in the book. He had inadvertently made his feelings for Meg known to Laurie when Laurie discovered a glove that Mr. Brooke had stolen from his future wife.

Amy has spent time in Europe and become close to Laurie, who eventually proposes marriage after managing to let go of the feelings he had previously had for Jo.

With all three of her surviving daughters settled, Marmie celebrates her sixtieth birthday, and the family comes together for a grand celebration at Plumfield. The novel ends with Marmie's declaration that she has no greater wish for any of the girls than their current levels of happiness being sustained. All three have found happiness, in spite of their humble beginnings and the death of their sister.

Little Women begins at Christmas time with the March family and Mr. March away in the Civil War. The adventures of the little women begins when a wealthy neighbor invites the family to join them for a Christmas party. This is where Jo meets Laurie, the grandson of the wealthy neighbor, while both are hiding from the party. While the text is too extensive for a full plot description here, the next major event occurs when Mrs. March is called away to the War herself because her husband is gravely ill and, in her absence, Beth contracts scarlet fever from the baby of a poor family she has gone to give comfort and aid to. To protect her from the fever, Amy is sent to Aunt March. Later at another Christmas party, Mr. Brooke declares his love and asks Meg to marry him. They must be content to wait for three years though as Meg is too young at present for marriage, although the eldest. Meanwhile, Beth recovers from her nearly fatal fever just as Mrs. March returns. The next surprise return to the family occurs when Laurie escorts Mr. March home from the War.

Part II opens three years later with Mr. March being a minister and Meg's wedding in preparation. Laurie hints to Jo that her wedding will follow Meg's, but she responds by saying she is far more interested in other things, such as the new career as an author, with a short story sold for $100 and a novel completed but rejected as needing major revisions. Aunt March was adamantly opposed to Meg's intended marriage but has relented over time and shows her change of heart through a lovely and extravagant gift for the new couple. After a time, Meg declares marriage to be good and bears twins to prove it. The romance between Jo and Laurie, however, takes a devastating turn when Jo, teaching now in New York and meeting other kinds of people, returns home and rejects Laurie's offer of marriage. To soothe his shattered hopes, Laurie travels to Europe with his grandfather. It happens that Amy had recently gone to Europe as well under Aunt March's auspice to study art. When news reaches the travelers of Beth's death, Laurie seeks out Amy to comfort her. It is no surprise when Laurie and Amy return from Europe hand in hand as husband and wife and Jo marries Professor Bhaer whom she met in New York just before rejecting Laurie's marriage offer. Jo and Bhaer open a school for boys in the house left to her in Aunt March's will.