Forty-year-old Miss Polly Harrington is the only surviving member of her family and lives alone in the grand Harrington residence in Beldingsville, Vermont. She is fussy and ill-humored but prides herself on being a good woman and so agrees to take in her 11-year-old niece Pollyanna Whittier when her brother-in-law dies. While her maid Nancy thinks this will be fun for Miss Polly, Miss Polly is more cynical. Her older sister Jennie married a poor preacher Reverend John Whittier and following their move West, became estranged from the Harrington family, who looked down upon John. Still, Jennie continued to write to them for a time and named her sole surviving child Pollyanna for her sisters Polly and Anna. Jennie died before her husband, which means that Pollyanna is now an orphan.

Nancy gets to work preparing the room Miss Polly has assigned to Pollyanna. Nancy thinks that Miss Polly is cruel for assigning Pollyanna a shabby, uncomfortable little attic room when she has such a big house.

Later, in the garden, Nancy bumps into the gardener, Old Tom. She shares the astonishing news that Jennie’s daughter Pollyanna will be coming to live with them.