Elsinore Terrace is a friendly street in 1920s suburban Boston where neighbours mingle. Jimmy and Pollyanna settle down in a house there with their growing family, Junior and Judy. But even here, there can be awkward people who don't know what it is to be glad - or who don't know how. There's Philip, a nowhere child born of adultery and considered an outcast; Mildred Richards, the young mother who chooses to work outside of the home in a jointly owned gift shop for 'self expression' - she is not a fan of housewifely drudgery, she says! And then, in a surprise move, Aunt Polly sells her big house and proposes moving in with Pollyanna and Jimmy.