In the late 19th century, brother and sister Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, both in their old age, decide to take on an orphan boy to help out around their ancestral farm of Green Gables, on the outskirts of the town of Avonlea, on Prince Edward Island. When Matthew goes to pick the child up at the railway station, he finds not a boy, but a high-spirited and talkative girl, Anne Shirley. At first, the Cuthberts are inclined to send her back, particularly after Marilla's brooch goes missing, and Anne, in despair, runs away. The family reconciles and Anne settles in her new home. Upon starting school, Anne once again displays boundless enthusiasm which is nevertheless easily turned into despair when things go wrong, which they often do. Slowly, her ebullient nature wins over those around her.