Barbie assumes the role of Princess Rose in the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty. When Princess Rose is born, a number of benevolent fairies arrive to bless the child with a bounty of gifts. A wicked fairy, feeling slighted because she wasn't invited, crashes the birthday party and places a curse on the child -- if she pricks her finger on a sewing spindle during her first 15 years, she will fall into a deep slumber for 100 years. Another fairy is able to mitigate this curse with the stipulation that a prince's kiss will wake her in such an eventuality.

The game consists of a series of activities that can either be played at random or in order according to the main storyline. Princess Rose wakes up her woodland friends and invites them to her 16th birthday party, makes a dress and crown, plays hide and seek with the fairies, but then gets tricked by the evil fairy into pricking her finger on a sewing spindle and taking a long nap. At that point, the fairies have to put everyone in the castle to sleep while they work on the problem. Then they recruit a prince who must chop through a maze of thorn brush in order to reach the castle and give the princess a smooch. Princess Rose must then battle the wicked fairy in order to retrieve the magic flute.