When Pollyanna (Mary Pickford) is orphaned, she is sent to live with her crotchety Aunt Polly (Katherine Griffith). Pollyanna discovers that many of the people in her aunt's New England home town are as ill-tempered as her aunt. But Pollyanna's incurable optimism - exemplified by her "glad game," in which she looks for the bright side of every situation - bring a change to the staid old community.