Pollyanna, Hayley Mills, arrives in the small town of Harrington as the cheerful, 11-year-old orphaned daughter of missionaries, to live with her rich and strict aunt Polly Harrington, Jane Wyman. Pollyanna’s sunny outlook—ever ready to find something to be glad about—wins her a circle of friends across the town, including the hypochondriac and grouchy Mrs. Snow, Agnes Moorehead, and the acidic recluse Mr. Pendergast, Adolphe Menjou.
A group of citizens, led by Aunt Polly’s ex-boyfriend Dr. Edmond Chilton, Karl Malden, tries to persuade the town’s minister Rev. Ford, James Drury, to publicly back a carnival to fund a new orphanage, reminding them that “nobody owns a church.” Pollyanna presents a note from Aunt Polly with sermon recommendations and shares a locket from her late father, inscribed with a quote from Abraham Lincoln: > When you look for the bad in mankind expecting to find it, you surely will. The moment opens Rev. Ford to the idea that the town should listen to the people and that the bazaar could be a community event rather than a display of control.
This shift leads Ford to announce that he will read one of the so‑called “Glad Passages” from the Bible each week and to openly support the bazaar, encouraging everyone to attend. Aunt Polly, however, is furious at this defiance and forbids Pollyanna from participating. On the carnival evening, Pollyanna is locked in her attic by Aunt Polly but is rescued by her playmate and fellow orphan Jimmy Bean, [Kevin Corcoran], who reminds her that she will lead “America the Beautiful” at the high point of the event. With Jimmy’s help, she slips away and has a wonderful time at the carnival, even winning her first-ever doll.
Returning home, Pollyanna avoids Aunt Polly by climbing a tree toward her attic room. When she slips, her doll falls, and she drops from the window ledge, losing consciousness. The news that her legs may be paralyzed shatters her ordinarily buoyant spirit and threatens her ability to walk again. Aunt Polly is overwhelmed by guilt, realizing how her insistence on control has isolated Pollyanna from the town. She confides in Dr. Chilton that Pollyanna needed love, and that she herself failed to provide it. Dr. Chilton encourages them to mend the rift and to bring the town together in care for Pollyanna.
As the townspeople learn of Pollyanna’s accident, they come to Aunt Polly’s house with open hands and warm support. Dr. Chilton helps carry Pollyanna downstairs, and neighbors one by one express their well‑wishes for her recovery. Pollyanna’s spirit slowly returns, and she learns that Jimmy has been adopted by Mr. Pendergast. The bond between Pollyanna and Aunt Polly deepens, and they depart Harrington with Dr. Chilton for an operation in Baltimore that could restore her ability to walk. Grateful and united, the town embraces a new identity, nicknamed Gladtown.
