Pip John Mills is an orphan who grows up under the stern eye of his shrewish older sister and her kindhearted blacksmith husband, Joe Gargery Bernard Miles. While visiting his parents' graves alone, Pip encounters an escaped convict, Abel Magwitch, who intimidates him into returning the next day with the blacksmith's tools to free him from his chains and to bring food. Magwitch devours the food and thanks him, but is captured after he attacks a rival escapee rather than fleeing.
Miss Havisham Martita Hunt, a wealthy and eccentric spinster, arranges for Pip to come to her mansion regularly to provide her with company and to entertain her adopted daughter Estella Valerie Hobson, a strikingly beautiful but cruel teenager. Estella mocks Pip's coarse manners at every opportunity, yet the young boy grows to love her. He also meets a boy, Herbert Pocket, whom he beats in an impromptu boxing match. The visits end when Pip turns fourteen and begins his apprenticeship as a blacksmith, and Estella leaves for France to learn the ways of a lady.
Six years later, Miss Havisham's lawyer Mr Jaggers Francis L. Sullivan visits Pip to tell him that a mysterious benefactor has offered to turn him into a gentleman with "great expectations"; Pip assumes the benefactor is Miss Havisham. He is taken to London and stays with Herbert Pocket, who teaches him how to behave like a gentleman. Herbert also explains that Miss Havisham was left at the altar years ago and remains intent on avenging herself on men, with Estella as her instrument to break hearts.
When Pip turns twenty-one, Joe brings a request from Miss Havisham to visit her. There Pip is reunited with Estella, who tells him that she has no heart, and hints that she has no real feelings for Bentley Drummle, despite flirting with him.
Back in London, Pip receives an unexpected visitor: Magwitch, who escaped from prison again and has made a fortune as a sheep-farmer in New South Wales, Australia. He reveals that he is Pip's benefactor, and that his generosity springs from Pip's kindness; he regards Pip as his own son.
Growing suspicious of Drummle's attentions toward Estella, Pip visits her. She tells him she is going to marry Drummle. Pip confronts Miss Havisham for using Estella to manipulate him. Miss Havisham begs his forgiveness. Pip leaves, but when she tries to follow him, a piece of flaming wood from the fireplace rolls out and ignites her dress. Her screams alert Pip, who runs back to save her but is unable to.
After being warned that an old enemy has learned that Magwitch is in London, Pip and Herbert plot to smuggle him onto a packet ship leaving England, on which Pip is to accompany him. They row out to the ship, but are intercepted by waiting police, tipped off by Magwitch's old foe. Magwitch is injured in the struggle, but his nemesis is pushed down to his death by the ship's paddlewheels. Magwitch is captured and sentenced to death.
Magwitch tells Pip of his lost daughter, and Pip's suspicion that she is Estella is confirmed by Jaggers. Pip visits a dying Magwitch in prison, and tells him of her fate and that he, Pip, is in love with her. Magwitch dies a contented man.
Stricken by illness and with his expectations gone, Pip is taken home and nursed back to health by Joe. He revisits Miss Havisham's deserted house, where he finds Estella and learns that Drummle had broken off their engagement when Jaggers informs him of her parentage. Learning that Estella plans to live in seclusion in the house, which she has inherited, Pip tears down the curtains and opens the boarded-up windows and tells Estella that he has never stopped loving her. After hesitating, she embraces him and they leave the house together.
