This the story of the unplanned adoption of an eleven-year-old girl orphan by an elderly brother and sister farm couple: Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert. They had requested a young boy orphan to help with farm chores so the girl was unwanted at first. However, she was very intelligent, imaginative and quite a chatterbox. She gradually made her way into the unexpected adoption that brought love and respect, creating a warm and wonderful association. This delightful classic takes place in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island.

A lady, Mrs. Rachel Lynde, lived just where the main road from the near town of Avonlea dipped down into a little hollow with a brook coming from a source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place known as Green Gables. By the time the brook reached Lynde's Hollow it was a quiet little stream, for not even a brook could run past Rachel Lynde's door without due regard for decency and decorum. Rachel was generally sitting at her window, and if she noticed anything odd or out of place she would never rest until she had ferreted out the whys and wherefores thereof. Rachel was one of those capable creatures who can manage their own concerns and those of other folks into the bargain. She was aghast when learning of the adoption but eventually realized it had all been for the best.