Maria Kutschera, Masako Katsuki, lost both her parents at a young age and faced many hardships. At eighteen, returning from her graduation trip from teacher training school, she suddenly decides to become a nun. She travels to Salzburg and visits the strictest convent, Nonnberg Abbey, where she applies and is accepted as a novice. Yet Maria’s cheerful and energetic personality and her indifference toward strict customs gradually make her a problematic presence in the convent, since the nuns expect discipline and proper manners above all. Maria tries to adapt, but she would rather honor her Lord through joy and gratitude for life and everything in it.
One day, the Mother Superior sends Maria to Baron Georg von Trapp’s house, an Austrian hero and aristocrat, for nine months as governess to his second daughter, a frail child who shares the same name, Maria. The Baron is a widower, and none of the twenty-five governesses he had previously hired had been accepted by his seven children. At first, the children are withdrawn and rebellious, but they gradually open up to Maria’s innocent and honest nature. Through joy, song, and poetry, Maria wins the children’s hearts and respect, filling them all with happiness. Maria also gains the Baron’s affection.
Georg realizes that he is in love with Maria, and he breaks off his engagement with his fiancée, Lady Yvonne. Later, at the insistence of his children, he asks Maria to marry him, against the opinion of Baroness Matilda, who manages the household. At first, Maria is hesitant and returns to the convent for a time, but soon she understands her feelings and comes back to marry the Baron and become a mother to his children.
Facing financial difficulties, the Trapp family turns their villa into a guesthouse. Lotte Lehmann, a visiting opera singer, discovers the children singing and encourages them to perform at the Salzburg Festival. Despite being amateurs, their enthusiasm and folk songs win the hearts of the audience, leading to radio appearances, a performance at Vienna’s Kleine Halle, and a meeting with American impresario Mr. Wagner, who offers them a U.S. tour, which they initially decline.
But trouble arises with the looming threat of World War II as the Nazis seize control of Austria a year before the conflict begins. The Trapps grow increasingly unhappy with their new life and resent the fact that Adolf Hitler himself wants them to sing at his parties. The Baron, a war hero and patriot, refuses to cooperate with the regime, and they discover that their butler Hans is a Nazi supporter assigned to watch them. For this reason, they decide to leave Austria and begin a new life far from the war. With the help of trusted friend Franz, Georg, Maria (now pregnant), and the seven children, they secretly flee their home, cross the mountains to Italy, and later reach New York, where, with Wagner’s assistance, they gain fame performing their native folk songs.
