When Ella is born, a fairy gives her the gift of obedience. As a result, Ella is always under the power of everyone who tells her what to do, no matter what strange commands she receives.

The fairy Lucinda means well when she gives Ella the gift of always being obedient. Ella's mother, Lady Eleanor, sees what a problem the gift can be, and tells Ella to never tell anyone about the spell. Any time someone casually tells Ella to do something, she absolutely must obey, even if it is something very silly or even harmful to Ella. Ella loves laughing and playing with her mother and their cook, Mandy. One day, Lady Eleanor gets sick and dies. At her funeral, Ella is very distraught, and she runs out to the graveyard to cry alone. Afterward, she happens to run into Prince Charmont, who says that he is sorry about her mother's death. At the dinner following the funeral, Ella meets Dame Olga and her two horrid daughters, Hattie and Olive.

Mandy reveals to Ella that she is Ella's fairy godmother. She cannot undo the spell on Ella, but she does what she can to look after Ella. Ella's father, Sir Peter, tells her that he has decided to send her to finishing school with Hattie and Olive. On the way to the school, Hattie figures out that Ella has to do whatever she is told. At school, Hattie makes Ella run errands for her, and plays mean tricks on her. When Ella hears that Lucinda might be attending the wedding of a giant, Ella runs away from school and tries to go to the wedding. She is stopped by a group of ogres, but she charms them with their own words, making them go to sleep. Prince Charmont and his knights find them like this, and thank Ella for taming the ogres for them.

Ella's father loses all his money in a business deal and marries Dame Olga for her money. When she finds out that he is poor, Dame Olga is furious, and takes it out on Ella by making her a servant in their house. Ella and Char still write letters to one another, and Char asks Ella to marry him. She thinks that she should not, because with her obedience, she could be used as a weapon against Char and the whole kingdom. Nonetheless, when he holds a masked ball to pick a wife, Ella goes with a mask on. Hattie plucks the mask off Ella's face, and Ella runs out of the ball, losing one of her glass slippers. When the prince comes and finds her at home, he puts the slipper on her foot, and orders her to marry him. Ella rallies all her strength, and refuses to marry him, breaking the spell. Now that she is free, Ella explains everything, and marries Prince Char. They live happily ever after.