An elderly bachelor and his spinster sister adopt an orphan and are mistakenly sent a girl instead of a boy. The orphan, Anne, remains with the couple, moves from one mishap to another, succeeds academically, and finds love.

Julia is a college student studying psychology who, as a child, was haunted by "night terrors", now those nightmares begin coming back. Her friend Billy, who had similar dreams as a boy, also reports that his terrors have returned. Julia's boyfriend, Paul, is certain they're both just imagining things thanks to too much studying and too little sleep. When Billy turns up dead, Julia is convinced something really is out to get them.

Anne, an eleven-year-old orphan, is sent by mistake to live with a lonely, middle-aged brother and sister on a Prince Edward Island farm and proceeds to make an indelible impression on everyone around her; Anne, now a young woman, has become a teacher and dreams of meeting her ideal man; After a series of disappointments, Anne and her husband Gilbert return to Avonlea in search of happiness, but soon face the challenges of war when newly enlisted...