Nancy turns out to be worse than Nellie ever was. She even locks another girl in the ice house. The students devise a plan to teach Nancy a lesson. They trick her into being the star in a dunking tank. Also during this episode, Adam and Mary move to New York so that they can earn a living and Hester Sue comes to Walnut Grove to work at the restaurant.

James is trying to be more like Albert. He even wants to shave like Albert has to. While James is shaving, he breaks Albert's razor. James steals a razor from the mercantile hoping Albert wouldn't notice the difference. When the truth is found out about the razor, James runs away. Albert takes off after him. When Albert finds James, it takes a lot of convincing before James decides to come back home with him.

Weil Dr. Baker in Walnut Grove zu viel zu tun hat, beschließt er, seine Praxis mit einem zweiten Arzt zu teilen. Auch seine Patienten haben nichts dagegen - zunächst. Doch dann erfahren sie, dass der neue Arzt ein Farbiger ist. Obwohl Dr. Caleb Ledoux hoch qualifiziert ist, wird er von den Bürgern der Stadt abgelehnt. Sogar Dr. Baker ist gegen Vorurteile nicht gefeit. Aber schließlich müssen auch die schärfsten Kritiker einsehen, dass Dr. Ledoux seine Kunst beherrscht ...

Laura goes to visit Eliza Jane because of a literature seminar that is going on in town. Laura has to find a part-time job to pay for meals and other stuff. She ends up hating the job. There is a person who Laura met on the train who begins to like Eliza Jane. Eliza Jane in turn begins to like the professor teaching the seminar and the professor likes Laura. The professor tells Laura that her writing is bad when Laura tells him she is happily married. The man on the train eventually defends Laura's writing. It only takes one punch by the man to get the professor to take off and leave.

Der alternde Zirkusakrobat Rudolpho Gambini versucht mit allen Mitteln, sich und anderen zu beweisen, dass er immer noch unschlagbar ist. Er ist sich nicht bewusst, dass er damit aber nicht nur sich, sondern auch andere gefährdet. Zum Beispiel die Kinder von Walnut Grove, die die waghalsigen Kunststückchen ihres Idols nachzumachen versuchen. Alle Bitten seiner Frau Anna Rosa und seines Sohnes Marco bleiben ungehört - mit schrecklichen Folgen ...

Nels is kidnapped by two crooks. The crooks try to get Mrs. Oleson to pay ransom for her husband, but she refuses to. This makes Mr. Oleson upset and causes him to help the crooks. The kidnappers aren't very lucky. After kidnapping several different people, the crooks decide that they need to try another line of work. They leave without hurting any of the kidnapped people.

In Chicago ist Isaiah Edwards' Sohn bei einem Verkehrsunfall ums Leben gekommen. Um seinem alten Freund in seiner schweren Stunde beizustehen, fährt Charles Ingalls nach Chicago. Doch bei genauer Betrachtung der Todesumstände bekommt Charles den Verdacht, dass der Tod des Jungen kein Unfall war. Edwards' Trauer verwandelt sich in Wut und Energie: Zusammen mit Charles und dem Reporter Callahan bemüht er sich, die Wahrheit herauszufinden - so schmerzlich sie auch ausfallen mag.

An overweight boy comes to school at Walnut Grove. The schoolkids pick on him because he is so heavy. Nancy persuades the boy to bully the other school children. The jokes of the school children get so bad that the obese boy decides to quit school. The school children then decide that enough is enough. They go over and apologize to him.

Harriets Restaurant läuft so gut, dass Caroline und Hester Sue sehr beschäft sind. Als eines Tages ein Vertreter auftaucht, kann er Harriet überzeugen, das Gasthaus in ein Schnellrestaurant zu verwandeln, um so noch mehr Geld zu verdienen. Die Geschäftsfrau hat aber das Kleingedruckte nicht gelesen und bald arbeiten die Frauen fast rund um die Uhr, um die strikten Konditionen zu erfüllen. Things start out well when the new "Sullivan's Restaurant" rakes in an impressive amount of money, but as Caroline, Harriet, and Hester Sue are forced to give practically 24/7 attention to this demanding job, Nels and Charles must take over the responsibilities at home. Flustered with cooking every day and taking care of the kids, Nels and Charles know that their wives regret these recent developments, but this time, it may be up to the men to fix things up.

Mary, Adam, Hester Sue, the Wilders, and the Ingalls are all together for Christmas. The snow begins falling and soon they are snowed in by a blizzard. To pass time, several of them tell stories. Laura talks about the Christmas in Kansas when Mr. Edwards came.

James makes friends with Gideon Hale, a young boy who stutters. However, the budding friendship is damaged when Gideon overhears James making fun of him. A wolf that follows James and Charles on a delivery trip may hold the key for bringing Gideon out of his shell.

Lauras neuer Obstgarten wird von der anhaltenden Dürreperiode stark in Mitleidenschaft gezogen. Verbissen kämpft sie um den Garten - und gefährdet dabei durch die schwere Arbeit die Gesundheit und das Leben ihres ungeborenen Kindes. Erschwerend kommt hinzu, dass ihr Vater Charles und ihr Mann Almanzo geschäftlich unterwegs sind und sie nicht unterstützen können. Laura, die sich nach besten Kräften bemüht, die Farm allein zu führen, muss eine wichtige Erfahrung machen.

Charles beings making tables so that he could pass on a legacy. While he is at this, Albert begins taking care of the farm. Charles gets very upset when someone steals his design and starts producing the tables in large quantities. Charles soon realizes that memories of his family is a lot more important.

Nachdem der arme Goldgräber Jed Cooper auf eine ergiebige Ader gestoßen ist, verhält er sich sehr großzügig. Sowohl seine Nichte Cassandra und sein Neffe James als auch die Ingalls-Kinder bekommen neue Kleider und Schuhe. Außerdem stiftet er ein neues Kirchendach. Jed, Cassandra und James verbringen eine schöne Zeit zusammen. Doch dann will Jed die beiden mit nach New York nehmen - und darüber kommt es zu einer heftigen Auseinandersetzung zwischen ihm und den Ingalls ...

Ein neuer Handwerker kommt nach Walnut Grove. Sam erweist sich als netter und charmanter Mann. Dann kommt seine Vergangenheit ans Tageslicht: Er ist Hester Sues Ex-Mann. Vor Jahren hatte er sie wegen einer anderen Frau verlassen. Sam war ein unverbesserlicher Trinker und Spieler gewesen. Nun schwört er, alle seine Laster aufgegeben zu haben. Er möchte Hester Sue zurückgewinnen - und Charles und Caroline Ingalls wollen ihm dabei helfen ...

The Wilders' budding marriage is put to its first major test when Almonzo, soon after recovering from an illness, is felled by a stroke.

Almonzo, bitter at his apparent life-crippling illness, nearly gives up on life, despite the birth of little Rose. His attitude nearly drives Laura to consider leaving her husband. A tornado that destroys the farmstead may hold the key to both of their futures.

Mr. Edwards' alcoholism, fueled by John Jr.'s violent death, ruins his marriage, and he travels back to Walnut Grove to see solace with his old friends. However, those long-standing friendships are put to the test when an accident, caused by a drunken Mr. Edwards, nearly costs Albert his life.

A longtime friend of Caroline writes to her and asks for help. Her friend is pregnant and lives at a gold prospector's camp where there is an outbreak of influenza. Caroline finds out that her friend's husband doesn't like her wife. In fact, he wants his wife's baby to die. Caroline's friend dies during childbirth, but the child survives. In another tent, a mother's child dies while be born. Caroline decides to give the baby to the other mother since she knows that the baby will be taken care of properly.

While Mr. Edwards, Charles, and James are in Sleepy Eye, James gets shot during a bank robbery. James, who is in a coma, is taken to the hospital. While James is in the hospital, Mr. Edwards, Mr. Ingalls, and Albert look for the bank robbers. They find them and bring them to justice. Charles continues to believe that James will get better.

When Charles refuses to admit that James will likely never recover from his gunshot wound, he leaves Walnut Grove with his adopted son. He builds an altar in the woods and hopes that God will bring a miracle.