Family comedy based on Eric Knight's 1938 novel. The film is set on the eve of World War II in a Yorkshire mining town in northern England. The Carraclough family fall on hard times and have to sell Lassie to the Duke of Rudling (Peter O'Toole). Transported to the Duke's remote castle in the north of Scotland, Lassie is determined to escape from the clutches of the Duke and his evil trainer, in an effort to make her way home for Christmas and return to the family she loves.