Marilla Cuthbert and Matthew Cuthbert, middle-aged siblings who
live together at Green Gables, a farm in Avonlea, on Prince Edward
Island, decide to adopt a boy from an orphan asylum in Nova Scotia as a
helper on their farm. Through a series of mishaps, the person who ends
up under their roof is a precocious girl of eleven named Anne Shirley.
Anne is bright and quick, eager to please but dissatisfied with her
name, her pale countenance dotted with freckles, and with her long
braids of red hair. Being a child of imagination, however, Anne takes
much joy in life, and adapts quickly, thriving in the environment of
Prince Edward Island.