Act 1:

The year is 1933, and New York City is in the midst of the Great Depression. An eleven year old girl named Annie lives in an orphanage downtown hoping for a better life. Miss Hannigan, who runs the orphanage with a cruel and unforgiving hand, catches Annie when she tries to run away to find her long-lost parents. Because of Annie’s disobedience, she and the rest of the children in the house are forced to clean the whole orphanage. Annie uses this chore as a diversion, and successfully escapes in a laundry basket covered with blankets. On her own in the city, she runs into a stray dog that she names Sandy. Annie and her new friend are caught by a policeman and once again sent back to Miss Hannigan. When it seems like all hope is lost, a woman named Grace Farrell, assistant to the wealthy Oliver Warbucks, invites an orphan to spend the Christmas holiday at the Warbucks mansion, and much to Miss Hannigan’s dismay, she chooses Annie! Grace and the servants make her feel at home when she arrives, but Oliver Warbucks is initially disappointed with Annie, hoping that Grace had chosen a boy. He quickly changes his mind and grows fond of the girl after an exciting night out in “N.Y.C.” In time, Warbucks decides to adopt Annie, and tries to give Annie a new locket to replace the one her parents left her, but she refuses. He realizes that Annie still hopes to find her family. He says he will find Annie’s parents no matter what it takes.

Act 2:

Annie goes on the radio, broadcasting a plea to find her parents and a reward of 50,000 dollars from Warbucks for anyone who can find them. Along with her con-artist brother Rooster and his girlfriend Lily, Miss Hannigan creates a plan to trick Annie into believing that she has found her long lost parents by disguising Rooster and Lily. Even though hundreds of couples show up to Warbucks’ house to claim the 50,000 dollars, Grace confirms them all to be fake. Rooster and Lily (in disguise as Ralph and Shirley Mudge) successfully trick everyone by offering information about the locket, and providing the missing other half of it. Just in time, with the help of President Roosevelt himself, it is revealed that Annie’s parents died when she was born and that the Mudges are not really Annie’s parents! Miss Hannigan, Lily, and Rooster are all arrested. Even though she doesn’t find her parents, Annie realizes that Warbucks and Grace have become family to her, and she is officially adopted by “Daddy” Warbucks!