The book's title character and protagonist is a young pig who is forced to leave home, along with his brother Alexander, when his mother realizes that she is unable to feed all eight of her piglets. Pigling Bland becomes separated from Alexander and gets hopelessly lost. He finds himself on the farm of a man named Mr. Piperson. Pigling Bland discovers that another pig, a young female black pig named Pig-wig, is being held prisoner in the farmhouse. At the end of the story, Pigling Bland and Pig-wig escape from Mr. Piperson's farm and begin a new life together.