One day, a strange cat wanders into the villiage. The cat is a witch in disguise, and she wants Jorinde to add to her collection of young girls.

The two lovebirds go walking in the woods alone, and the witch makes them lose their path. They stumble around, lost, until they come upon her house in the woods.

The witch casts a spell upon Jorinde, and she turns into a bird. Joringel is frozen until the moon rises, so that he cannot save Jorinde.

Everytime Joringel tries to get near the witche's house he begins to freeze again. Frightened, he runs away from the witches servants and is knocked unconscious.

He wakes up the next morning in a cottage kept by a farmer's widow and her daughter. After several days with the widow's daughter, Joringel considers giving up his search for Jorinde and marrying the daughter.

That night, he dreams about Jorinde, and the song she sang after she was enchanted. In his dream, a red flower with a pearl in the center appears, and he wakes with a clear picture of it in his head.

Joringel goes searching for the flower that night, leaving the widow and her daughter sleeping.

He cannot find the flower, and, after a few hours, is attacked by the witch. His tears of sorrow cause a flower to grow in front of him, and the flower destroys the witches servants. He confronts the witch, and wins, freeing Jorinde and all the other young girls from their spells, and they all lived happily ever after.