When Pollyanna Whittier's father dies she is sent to live with her Aunt Polly in Beldingsville in Vermont. A clash of personalities ensues as Pollyanna's sunny disposition sits ill with her aunt's need for quiet, her passion for shutting windows and her obsession with quietly shut doors. The key to Pollyanna's happiness is The Glad Game - originally invented to deal with disappointing missionary boxes -and is applied to all parts of life. No matter how dark the situation it is always possible to find something to be glad about. Any attempts to discipline the child fail helplessly in the face of The Glad Game. A bread and milk supper in the kitchen is greeted with rapture; a puritan attic bedroom with sparse furnishing is seen as valued for its rapturous views - better than any decoration could ever be.
