Each student must trace their family tree for a school assignment. Albert is unsure how he can do the assignment. The Ingalls decide to legally adopt Albert, but run into problems when Mr. Quinn, Albert's father shows up. He wants Albert until he sees him. Albert pretends to be blind with the hope that his father wouldn't want him. The blindness does the trick. Albert is legally adopted by the Ingalls.

Albert experiments with smoking in the basement of the School For the Blind and, when shooed out of the basement, hides the still-lit pipe in some cloths. The pipes ignite and result in a late-night fire that kills Alice Garvey and Mary's baby son. As a result, several people struggle with the consequences: Albert becomes completely withdrawn when he learns his careless actions may have caused the fire, Mary in deep shock and Jonathan Garvey in an alcohol-induced state of denial.

Adam and Mary move back to Walnut Grove so that Adam can start a law practice there. Adam's first case involves a person who has been swindling people in Walnut Grove. Adam believes the person is innocent until he finds out the truth. Adam convinces the jury to have pity on this man who was just trying to help out his family before he dies.