On Prince Edward Island, an elderly bachelor and his spinster sister Marilla adopt an orphan and are mistakenly sent a girl instead of a boy. The orphan, Anne, remains with the couple, moves from one mishap to another, succeeds academically, and finds love. Anne leaves Green Gables and Gilbert Blythe's proposal of marriage for a teaching position. When she returns, she finds Gilbert ill with a scarlet fever and is forced to re-evaluate her true feelings...