Pollyanna loses everything at once, her father, her home, her entire world, and the show refuses to let grief become the story. Instead it watches a girl rebuild herself through small acts of kindness in a place designed to reject her. By the time her aunt's coldness cracks, you realize the real transformation was never about winning her over, it was about Pollyanna refusing to stop being Pollyanna despite every reason to harden.

Pollyanna has never known her mother and has lived happily with her father, a vicar, in a small Midwestern town. When he dies, she has to move east to live with her aunt, a woman she has never met and her only living relative. The aunt is cold and self-centered and at first seems to detest the cheerful girl. Pollyanna stays positive through it all and brings happiness to the people around her. Over time, she and her aunt form a very strong bond. The 51-episode drama is based on Eleanor Hodgman Porter's 1913 children's novel.