Oliver Twist, (John Howard Davies), orphaned at birth and raised in the workhouse, is expelled for daring to ask the Beadle (Francis L. Sullivan) for more food. Unhappily apprenticed to an Undertaker, Oliver escaped to London, where he meets the cheeky Artful Dodger (Anthony Newly), the villainous Fagin (Alec Guiness), the aggressive Bill Skykes (Robert Newton) and the kindly but doomed Nancy (Kay Walsh).

Torn constantly between the forces of good and evil, Oliver eventually seals his fate by picking the pocket of a rich gentleman (Henry Stephenson).