从前，有一个小孩名叫汤姆，他是一个聪明、爱冒险的孩子。但由于父母双亡，就寄养在严厉而又疼爱他的波莉姨妈家。
Once upon a time, there was a child named Tom who was intelligent and adventurous. But due to the death of both parents, he was fostered at Aunt Polly's strict yet loving home.
汤姆因为和镇上新来的男孩打了一架，被波莉姨妈罚刷白栅栏。他却假装刷墙是门艺术，在本·罗杰斯前拼命显摆。他靠着自己装模作样，成功地骗过了小伙伴，让过路的孩子心甘情愿把心爱的玩物奉献给他，以换取一次刷墙的机会。
Tom was punished by Aunt Polly for painting the white fence because he had a fight with the new boy in town. But he pretended that painting walls was an art form and tried his best to show off in front of Ben Rogers. He relied on his own pretense to successfully deceive his friends and make passing children willingly offer their beloved toys to him in exchange for a chance to paint the wall.
礼拜日的教堂枯燥乏味，闲不住的汤姆想出了新花样。他放出了一只装在放雷管的盒子里的甲壳虫，掉在地上的甲壳虫被一只狮子狗发现了，狗和虫打了起来。后来，小狗不小心坐在甲壳虫上，被狠狠蛰了一下，它到处乱跑，扰乱了祷告，让教堂里沉闷的人们捧腹大笑了一场，汤姆·索亚满心愉悦地回家去了。
The Sunday church was dull and boring, and Tom, who couldn't sit still, came up with a new idea. He released a beetle from a box containing detonators. The beetle that fell to the ground was discovered by a lion dog, who started fighting with the bug. Later, the puppy accidentally sat on the Beetle and was stung fiercely. It ran around and disrupted prayers, making the dull people in the church burst into laughter. Tom Sawyer went home with joy in his heart.
一天，汤姆和哈克到坟地玩耍，不料却亲眼看到前来盗墓的印第安·乔杀死了医生，医生死后，他却把杀人的刀塞在昏倒在地的同伴波特手里。第二天杀人案曝光，印第安·乔却把杀人罪名嫁祸于波特头上。波特很快就被抓获，进了监狱。在波特送进监狱的那一刻起，汤姆的内心十分不安，既怕说出实情会遭到杀人犯追杀，又怕不说会让波特遭受冤屈。到了出庭审案的时候，汤姆主动站出来作证印第安·乔才是真正的凶手，使波特免遭冤屈。被揭穿后，印第安·乔破窗而出，不见踪迹。
One day, Tom and Huck went to the cemetery to play, only to see with their own eyes that Indian Joe, who came to rob the grave, killed the doctor. After the doctor died, he stuffed the killing knife into the hand of his unconscious companion Potter. The next day, the murder case was exposed, but Indian Joe blamed Potter for the murder. Potter was quickly captured and sent to prison. From the moment Potter was sent to prison, Tom's heart was very uneasy. He was afraid that if he spoke the truth, he would be pursued by murderers, and he was also afraid that if he didn't, Potter would suffer injustice. When it came to the trial, Tom voluntarily came forward to testify that Indian Joe was the real culprit, saving Potter from injustice. After being exposed, Indian Joe broke through the window and disappeared without a trace.
杀人案过去的几个星期后，贝琪妈妈邀请镇上的孩子去野餐。野餐会结束时，汤姆和贝琪在山洞里探险，迷了路。当他们面临着食物缺乏，蜡烛用尽的困难时，贝琪几乎绝望了，她说她宁愿等待死亡，可汤姆还在苦苦寻找，苦苦支撑着。当他鼓起勇气凭借风筝线向前探路时，陡然发现了杀人凶手——印第安·乔，但他一听到响声就逃走了。汤姆离开贝琪独自一个人继续冒险探路，牵着风筝线穿过两个通道，走到第三个山洞时，风筝线用完了，汤姆没有放弃，继续摸索，终于发现了远处有一线光，朝着那一线天光摸索，看到了密西西比河，成功带着贝琪逃离山洞回到镇上。印第安·乔最终也饿死在山洞。
A few weeks after the murder, Becky's mother invited the children in town to have a picnic. At the end of the picnic, Tom and Becky were exploring the cave and got lost. When they faced the difficulties of food shortage and running out of candles, Becky was almost desperate. She said she would rather wait for death, but Tom was still searching and struggling to hold on. When he gathered the courage to use the kite string to explore ahead, he suddenly discovered the murderer - Indian Joe, but he fled as soon as he heard the sound. Tom left Becky and continued his adventure alone, leading the kite string through two passages. When he reached the third cave, he ran out of kite string. Tom didn't give up and continued to explore, finally discovering a line of light in the distance. He groped towards that line of sky light and saw the Mississippi River. He successfully led Becky out of the cave and back to town. Indian Joe eventually starved to death in the cave.
后来，汤姆和哈克再次来到山洞，找到了凶手埋藏的宝藏，他的故事成了镇上的一段传奇。
Later, Tom and Huck returned to the cave and found the treasure buried by the murderer, and his story became a legend in the town.