The first episode of the series is entitled, aptly enough, The Journey Begins. It introduces us to Sarah Stanley, the privileged ten year old daughter of Blair Stanley, a wealthy Montreal businessman who is arrested on suspicion of embezzling money from his company. While he's preparing for the trial, he sends Sarah to stay with his late wife's estranged family on Prince Edward Island, accompanied by her starchy governess Nanny Louisa. Sarah's Uncle Alec lives at the King family farm in Avonlea with his wife Janet and their children, Felicity, Felix, and Cecily. Blair expects that Sarah and Louisa will stay with them but there's little room for two guests, especially since another King cousin- Andrew- has just come to stay while his father is away on a geological expedition in South America. Alec takes Sarah and an indignant Nanny Louisa to stay at Rose Cottage (which is at the far side of King Farm) with his two unmarried sisters, Hetty and Olivia. It doesn't go well; Hetty already has a grudge against Blair Stanley as she blames him for taking her sister Ruth away from the Island and for her death, which Hetty is convinced was caused by him dragging her all around the world with him on his travels. She also doesn't like Nanny Louisa- who admittedly is a pain in the butt- and things swiftly come to a head. Hetty tells Louisa that she can't stay at Rose Cottage and to go back to Montreal which she does under protest, escorted by the constable. Sarah is devastated because Nanny Louisa has cared for her since she was a baby, and now she's been left alone in a strange place with a family she doesn't know, and she misses her father terribly. She blames Hetty for this- not entirely unreasonably- and the two engage in a battle of wills, each determined to outlast the other. Hetty considers Sarah to have been too pampered and indulged all her life, which is true. Hetty, who is the Avonlea school teacher, also considers that Sarah's education (conducted by private tutors) to be less than stellar. She seems to have been allowed to study whatever she was interested in, so has a deep knowledge of literature, but doesn't know what a multiplication table is. Hetty is often justified in her criticisms but has no tact, and her bluntness hurts the sensitive Sarah until she gradually comes to realize that all of Aunt Hetty's fussing and fuming is a cover for her feelings; she's not the type to give public expression to her emotions.
All in all, this was a very strong pilot episode for Road To Avonlea. It introduces us to all of the major characters and acquaints us with their personalities and quirks. Sarah Polley does a good job at portraying Sarah Stanley as a "poor little rich girl". She is not above using her privileged background as a sharp stick to skewer Felicity or Hetty when they're butting heads, but she's actually not snobbish at all and gradually, as she finds her footing in the King family, realizes that she's starting to enjoy life on PEI. And although she misses her father and Nanny Louisa, Sarah's actually having a better- and healthier- time running about the fields, fishing in ponds, and helping on the farm than she did in Montreal, surrounded by servants constantly and with Louisa fussing that she'd catch a cold if she even left a window open. The rest of the cast is also good, with even the child actors not being stilted or insufferable. Jackie Burroughs really stands out in this episode as Hetty King, with all her irritating flaws and admirable strengths. She skillfully portrays a woman who, beneath her brusque and tactless exterior, cares deeply about Sarah and fears losing her as she did Ruth.
Nothing is actually resolved at the end of the first episode; the children reach a temporary truce, but there will be more clashes in the future; they'll be more like inner family squabbles though, rather than resentful strangers sniping at each other. We don't know if Sarah's father is going to win his lawsuit or end up in jail, and we suspect that the formidable Nanny Louisa will not long accept having been practically frogmarched off the Island and will attempt to rescue Sarah out of the clutches of her hayseed relations. It definitely provides lots of fodder for later plotlines.