Following the death of her guardian Matthew Cuthbert, Anne Shirley decides to forgo her Avery Scholarship at Queen's College to take care of Matthew's sister and Anne's other guardian, Marilla Cuthbert. Gilbert Blythe, also taking time off from his studies at Queen's, sacrifices himself by giving his teaching post at Avonlea School to Anne so that Anne can live with Marilla at Green Gables. During her teaching stint, Anne dreams of a literary career, writing stories of grand romance and tragedy in faraway lands. Anne's view of what she wants for herself romantically match these exaggerated stories. Anne's attempts at having her stories published fail miserably, except from the publication she doesn't want. Due to changed circumstances and a series of events around her including the wedding of her best friend, Diana Barry, and Gilbert's own marriage proposal to Anne which she turns down, Anne decides to take a teaching post at wealthy Kingsport Ladies College (KLC) in Kingsport, New Brunswick, the position offered to her by her old friend and teacher, Miss Muriel Stacey. For Anne's stint at KLC to be a success, she needs to win over both the principal of the school, icy Katherine Brooke who seems to hate everything and everyone, and the snobbish Pringle family, who rule the town and whose daughters populate half of Anne's classroom. Neither task will be easy. The one kindred spirit Anne does find in Kingsport is student, Emmeline Harris. A bright girl, Emmeline comes from a family dominated by the family matriarch, her grandmother, dowager Mrs. Margaret Harris, who herself is a Pringle by birth, but who feuds with the Pringle family. Mrs. Harris is cared for by her meek spinster daughter, Emmeline's Aunt Pauline Harris. But what Emmeline wants more than anything is the love and affection of her absent father, Mrs. Harris' son, widower Morgan Harris, who seems more interested in his work in Boston than he is about his daughter. Ultimately, Anne's effect on the entire Harris family is profound. Regardless of her success or lack of at KLC, Anne evaluates her life path and career goals following a chance meeting with Gilbert, now a medical student at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and a question posed to her by Morgan. But it isn't until after a rejuvenated return to Avonlea and further news about Gilbert that Anne finally realizes what is and always has been important in her life.