Matthew Cuthbert, an old bachelor living with his spinster sister, Marilla, decides to adopt a boy to help on Green Gables farm. The orphanage mistakenly sends Anne Shirley a mischievous redhead. She has the irritating habit of talking all the time, but the longer Anne stays, the less Matthew and Marilla can imagine the farm without her. Anne cultivates disaster wherever she goes. But at school she competes neck and neck with fellow classmate Gilbert Blythe. Eventually their fierce rivalry turns into a secret affection that blossoms into love. Marilla tries to stop Anne from seeing Gilbert. Then Matthew dies, and Green Gables has to be sold. This is when Gilbert steps in and gives up a teaching post in town so that Anne and Marilla can stay on at the Farm.