Honey Honey is a young orphan working as a Viennese waitress in the early 20th century. Abandoned as a child and raised in a convent, she shares a deep bond with her pet cat Lily, another foundling. Her life changes dramatically when Princess Flora discards a valuable gemstone ring inside a fish thrown from a window. Unaware, Lily eats the fish and swallows the jewel, instantly making Honey Honey and her cat targets for pursuers including Flora's suitors and the jewel thief Phoenix, sparking a global chase.

During perilous adventures across Paris, New York, Monte Carlo, Tokyo, and Gibraltar, Honey Honey demonstrates resourcefulness and courage, evading capture by hiding in places like a hot-air balloon basket. Initially distrustful of Phoenix despite his occasional aid, she gradually develops romantic feelings for him. Protecting Lily from those seeking the ring, especially the selfish Princess Flora, remains her primary drive. She consistently shows kindness, such as sympathetically cleaning mud from King Kong's face in New York, earning his affection. This act later proves crucial when King Kong captures Flora, allowing Honey Honey to intervene and save her.

A significant revelation occurs after nomadic people capture her and subject her to a ritual involving walking barefoot over hot coals. This ordeal reveals a distinctive rose tattoo on her foot, identical to one on Princess Flora, confirming Honey Honey is Flora's younger sister and the rightful princess of a small Prussian territory. This discovery of her royal lineage transforms their previous antagonism into a familial bond. Following this revelation and the eventual recovery of the ring from Lily, Honey Honey reconciles with Flora and marries Phoenix, revealed as the son of a nomadic tribe's leader. Her story concludes with her accepting her royal identity while retaining her inherent kindness and adventurous spirit. The final episode shows her observing Flora restarting the chase by discarding the ring again, though it is now a fake, symbolizing an end to Honey Honey's own perilous journey.