Once upon a time, two Dalmatians named Pongo and Perdita fell in love. Luckily, their owners, two humans named Roger and Anita, also fell in love. They all moved to a cozy house in London, and soon fifteen puppies were born.

Just after the puppies arrived, an old schoolmate of Anita’s dropped by. Her name was Cruella De Vil. She wore a large fur coat, and her hair was half black and half white. She had heard about the puppies and wanted to buy them.

Roger and Anita weren’t interested, but Cruella insisted. She even got out her checkbook. As Roger and Cruella argued, the woman shook her pen and splashed ink all over him.

“We’re not selling the puppies…and that’s final!” he yelled. Cruella stormed out, furious.

Pongo and Perdita were delighted with the puppies. One was so tiny, they didn’t think he would make it. But somehow he survived. When his spots came in, they formed the shape of a horseshoe on his back, so he was named Lucky. Another puppy had a black patch over his eye, so he was called Patch. One of their brothers was named Rolly, and they had a sister named Penny.

The puppies all liked to play together. Some nights, they even watched TV. They were a happy family.

One day, Roger and Anita took Pongo and Perdita for a walk. While they were out, Horace and Jasper, two of Cruella’s henchmen, went to their house, pretending to be from the electric company. When the two men got inside, they locked Nanny, the housekeeper, in a room, put the puppies in a large bag, and left. Then they drove out to Cruella’s country estate and waited to hear from her.

When Nanny finally escaped, she saw that the puppy basket was empty and immediately called the police.

Soon Pongo and Perdita returned. They could not believe their eyes—their puppies had been stolen!

Pongo and Perdita knew that the Twilight Bark was their only hope. They got Roger and Anita to take them to a park, where they could bark the message to all the dogs in London. Those dogs would pass it along to the animals who lived in the country. Maybe one of them would have seen the puppies.

“Fifteen Dalmatian puppies stolen!” Pongo barked. A Great Dane heard his plea and spread the news. Before long, dogs all over England had heard about the stolen puppies.

Later that night, the Twilight Bark reached a quiet farm, where a cat named Sergeant Tibs heard it. He awakened the Colonel, an old English sheepdog, and told him about the dognapping.

Sergeant Tibs thought that he’d heard barking at the old De Vil place. He and the Colonel set out for the gloomy mansion.

The sheepdog and cat arrived at Cruella’s place, and Sergeant Tibs went inside. He discovered the missing Dalmatians, plus eighty-four others! There were ninety-nine puppies altogether!

He told the Colonel to use the Twilight Bark to pass along the news that the pups had been located. When Pongo and Perdita heard, they set out for the countryside right away.

Meanwhile, Tibs and the Colonel kept a close watch over the puppies. Cruella soon arrived, and they found out that she wanted to use the puppies for fur coats!

“I don’t care how you kill the little beasts, but do it. And do it now!” she told Jasper and Horace. After she left, the two men decided to finish watching TV before they did anything.

Luckily, Tibs had heard the whole thing. He came up with a plan to help the pups escape through a hole in the wall. The cat led the Dalmatians down the stairs and hid them under the staircase. They were trembling with fright.

Jasper and Horace realized the pups were gone and started to search for them. Just as they found the puppies, Pongo and Perdita arrived and attacked the two bad men.

The puppies ran outside to safety. Perdita and Pongo soon followed, having momentarily foiled Horace and Jasper. Their fifteen puppies called out to them. “Mother! Dad! I sure missed you. Here we are!”

“Oh, my darlings. My darlings!” Perdita gushed, thankful to be reunited with her children.

When Pongo and Perdita learned about Cruella’s plans for the other Dalmatians, they decided to take all ninety-nine puppies back to London. They would have to be careful, though, for they knew Cruella and her men would be searching for them.

The Dalmatians thanked the Colonel and Tibs for their help and started off through the snow. When the dogs realized Jasper and Horace were following them, they walked on the frozen river so as not to leave any tracks. Soon, they heard a truck coming and hid under a bridge.

The truck stopped, and Horace got out. “What if they went down the froze-up creek so’s not to leave their tracks?” he asked Jasper.

“Dogs ain’t that smart,” Jasper replied. Horace got back in the truck and the two drove off.

The dogs started walking down the frozen creek again. But it was a long journey. Before long, the puppies were exhausted and hungry. After a while, Lucky couldn’t walk anymore, so his father carried him.

Luckily, a collie soon met them and led them to a dairy farm. The puppies rested in the hay for a while and drank some milk.

The food made the puppies strong enough to continue to a town called Dinsford, where a Labrador brought them to a blacksmith’s shop to rest. Later, they would board a truck that was bound for London.

While they were waiting, Cruella arrived. Pongo knew that the puppies couldn’t walk right by her to get on the truck. But they were too small to travel the rest of the way on foot.

Lucky and Patch got in a fight while their father tried to come up with a plan. As they tussled, the puppies rolled around in the ashes of the fireplace. Soon they were black with soot. Pongo glanced over at them and came up with an idea—all the puppies should cover themselves in ashes. That way, Cruella wouldn’t recognize them.

“Come on kids, roll in the soot!” he cried, and the puppies romped around until their fur was completely covered.

Since the pups were disguised, Pongo and Perdita thought it was safe to board the truck. They walked right by Cruella. But just as the last group of puppies were about to hop on, a clump of snow fell and washed the soot off one of them.

From her car, Cruella could see it was a Dalmatian.

“Jasper! Horace!” she yelled to her men, who had arrived in Dinsford in their own car. “There they go! After them!”

The truck with the puppies took off and Cruella zoomed after it. She tried to run it off the road, even driving through a barricade. But while Cruella was chasing the truck, Jasper and Horace were coming at it from a different direction. They didn’t see her car. The truck avoided both cars, but Cruella, Jasper, and Horace crashed into each other.

Cruella’s fancy car was ruined. There was no way she’d be able to get the puppies now.

Pongo and Perdita and all ninety-nine puppies arrived back in London safely and hurried home.

Roger and Anita were surprised to see so many puppies. They cleaned the soot off them and began to count. With Pongo and Perdita, there were 101 Dalmatians!

“What’ll we do with them?” Anita asked.

“We’ll keep them,” Roger answered. “We’ll buy a big place in the country, and we’ll have a plantation,” he said. “A Dalmatian plantation!”

And that’s exactly what they did.