"Yuki" is abandoned as a baby and left with only a wooden cross to call her own. Luckily, she is taken in by a kindly family and raised as a tomboy of a child who sets about trying to track down her mother. Using just about every form of ground transport available, we follow her quickly paced adventures as she races wild horses, takes a train - you get the drift. There's nothing really special about this at all - it reminded me of a sort of adequately animated Japanese equivalent of one of the "Heidi" stories. Indeed were it not for the fact that it was directed by Hayao Miyazaki, I doubt it would feature on many watchlists as all. That said, it does signal a little of what's to come, and is watchable enough for that.