Percival and Nellie go to New York so that Percival can run the family business now that his father has died. Mrs. Oleson gets very depressed because of Nellie leaving. The Olesons decide to adopt a girl to take the place of Nellie. While they are in Sleepy Eye, they find a girl that looks almost exactly like Nellie when she was young.

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.

Dr. Baker posts an ad for another doctor, to relieve his workload (and Mrs. Oleson's constant pestering). He hires Dr. Caleb Ledoux, but doesn't count on him being black. The Ingalls are among the very few to accept Dr. Ledoux, as others are outright hateful and racist. Even Dr. Baker struggles with his prejudice and, to show his spite, gives the young doctor minor cases.

In the end, Dr. Ledoux is the only doctor available to call on a pregnant woman who is having labor complications. The woman's husband won't allow the doctor in the house (because he's black), and can only get to her when Charles knocks the man aside. Ledoux performs a successful surgery and delivers a son to the couple. A stunned and shaken Dr. Baker witnesses the surgery and concedes that only Caleb's and his superior training could have saved the woman's life.

Dr. Ledoux later angrily tells his wife he plans to leave Walnut Grove. But only Dr. Baker's emotional speech at church convinces the good doctor to stay.

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.

In an episode about hero worship, Charles and Nels share deep concerns over an aging circus performer's influence on the children of Walnut Grove. Particularly since some of them - Albert and Willie in particular - have tried some of the daredevil's more dangerous stunts, with mixed results.

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.

Charles travels to Chicago to comfort a deeply grieving Mr. Edwards, whose son John Jr. had died in a tragic accident. But that grief soon gives way to rage when it becomes apparent John Jr.'s death was no accident. Charles and Mr. Edwards enlist the aid of the editor of the newspaper where John Jr. worked to uncover the truth.

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.

Mrs. Oleson changes the restaurant into a franchise restaurant, She has a hard time living up to the agreement of the franchise. Charles and Nels get together and decide to open up a restaurant of their own, right across the street. The new restaurant forces Mrs. Oleson's restaurant out of business. The town is now back to normal, or at least as normal as it can be.

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.

Laura finds that balancing her teaching duties at school and managing Almonzo's orchard, while he and Charles are gone on a delivery trip to Arizona, too much to handle. Her heart-to-heart talk with a maturing Willie may hold the key to both their futures.

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.

An elderly relative of James and Cassandra tries to get custody away from Charles. He ends up being unsuccessful in the lawsuit, which means that Charles kept custody of the children.

Hester Sue's ex-husband, Sam, comes to town. He tells Hester Sue that he was no longer a drinker and a gambler. Hester Sue believes he has changed and soon decides to marry him. Hester Sue learns the truth about Sam when his wife and kids come and warn Hester Sue that Sam is still a drinker and gambler.

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.

The Ingalls are forced to sell their house to the Carters and leave Walnut Grove to find a more promising life. Mrs. Carter begins printing a newspaper for Walnut Grove. Etta Plum becomes the teacher in Walnut Grove when Laura decides she wants to spend more time with Rose. Almanzo's brother, Royal, comes to Walnut Grove with his daughter, Jenny.

Royal has a very bad heart and asks Laura and Almanzo to take care of his daughter since he was going to die soon. Jenny is devastated by her father's death. After talking to Reverend Alden about heaven, she tries to commit suicide by drowning so that she could be with her father again. Jeb Carter is able to save Jenny although he can't swim. Laura convinces Jenny that she should do what would make her parents proud.

Harriet finds a bearer bond from Walnut Grove. She uses this to try to get people to follow her suggestions. She tells the town council that if she doesn't get her way, she will cash in the bond which would force the town to pay Mrs. Oleson over $10,000.

Mr. Stark has gotten himself so far in debt that he has lost his mind. He goes home and shoots his wife and daughter. Then he goes off and ends up at Laura's house. He mistakes Laura and Jenny for his wife and daughter, but when he sees Rose, he thinks that his daughter has had a baby.

A tiny circus performer, Lou, decides to look for work in Walnut Grove after his wife dies while giving birth to his baby girl. A prejudice Mrs. Oleson uses her power to make sure that the dwarf doesn't find work. She even threatens Mr. Anderson that she would close her account at the bank if he hired Lou. To keep the infant alive, the dwarf must steal food. Mrs. Oleson decides to press charges when she finds out who stole the food. When Nancy falls in a well, Lou risks his life to save the girl. That's when Mrs. Oleson decides that being small has its advantages and decides to drop all charges.

A traveling side-show comes to Walnut Grove. The main attraction is a wild boy. The wild boy escapes and becomes friends with the Wilders. The boy turns out to be Matthew Roger and the reason he acts wild is become he is given morphine.

Mr. Edwards keeps Matthew at his place, but Nancy Oleson tells on him. A judge comes and rules that Matthew be placed in an institution. Then Mr. Edwards makes a statement that everyone is crazy sometime. He convinces the judge to allow the boy to stay with Mr. Edwards.

Nellie returns to Walnut Grove and discovers that Nancy is a lot worse than she ever was. When Nancy isn't the center of attention, she runs away. Nels and Nellie search until they find her. Just when they think Nancy has learned a valuable lesson, she proves that she really hasn't.

The people of Walnut Grove are at first excited when the railroad wants to build through the town. This excitement doesn't last long. The railroad tells several people that they must leave their houses. The people make a stand at the Carter's place. This delay in building convinces the railroad to find a different route.

Laura's childhood friend, Jane Canfield, comes back to Walnut Grove. Although she is blind, she falls in love with Mr. Edwards, a person who was old enough to be her father. Jane then undergoes an operation which allows her to see again. After a lot of soul searching, Mr. Edwards tells Jane that she should go out and find herself a better life. At the end of the show, we see Mr. Edwards in the distance watching Jane leave on the stagecoach.

A minister that is passing through Walnut Grove arouses the suspicions of Reverend Alden and Mr. Edwards. Reverend Alden believes that he will lose his congregation to the other reverend. Mr. Edwards notices that this minister spends a lot of time with Mrs. Carter and Laura, which causes him to suspect the worse.

Jenny looses a necklace in a pond and almost drowns trying to get it. After the incident, she has partial brain damage and has to retrain herself to talk and walk. Jenny's friend, a retired doctor, helps Jenny to force herself to get better. Thanks to him, Jenny makes a complete recovery.

When Mrs. Carter's mother dies, Sarah Carter's father comes to town. He tries to get the Carters to come with home back to New York. He wants the Carters to have a better life. The Carters tell him that home sweet home is in Walnut Grove. After a while, Sarah's father begins to understand while the Carters feel this way.

The Older Brothers is a gang that used to have a notorious reputation. First they hold up Mr. Edwards but end up losing the money. Then they try to get ransom money for Mr. Edwards but that doesn't go very well.

Laura writes a book for a book writing contest. Her book is chosen. She travels to Minneapolis to work out a deal with the publisher. However, when the publisher wants her to change some parts in her book, she withdraws from the contest and goes back home.

When Albert continually breaks the law, Charles takes him out of the big city and back to Walnut Grove. Albert doesn't change in Walnut Grove because he is addicted to morphine. Charles finally forces Albert to stop using morphine. He stays with Albert while he goes through withdrawal. Thanks to Charles, Albert is no longer addicted to morphine. We find out at the end of the show that Albert will become Dr. Albert Ingalls.

When Albert continually breaks the law, Charles takes him out of the big city and back to Walnut Grove. Albert doesn't change in Walnut Grove because he is addicted to morphine. Charles finally forces Albert to stop using morphine. He stays with Albert while he goes through withdrawal. Thanks to Charles, Albert is no longer addicted to morphine. We find out at the end of the show that Albert will become Dr. Albert Ingalls.

Laura gives birth to a baby boy. The baby is fine and healthy for a while. Then for no apparent reason the baby dies. To ease her mind of the death, she blames Doc Baker for what happened to her baby. Doc's reputation declines so much that he must leave town to find work. Just before Doc Baker leaves, Rose comes down with small pox. Doc must stay quarantined with the Wilders for two weeks. Watching the Doc save Rose's life causes Laura to rethink her attitude about Doc Baker. Laura and the rest of the town convince him to stay on.

Jason Carter starts working for an old lady. Jason becomes great friends of the lady. However, Jason's mom believes the lady is being too nice. Jason is forbidden to work for the old lady until Sarah finds out that the lady will soon die.

Mr. Edwards and the residents of Walnut Grove make friends with an orangutan. But the friendship and the fun-loving primate's life may be short-lived when Nancy and Mrs. Olesen cause trouble.

No longer a mama's boy, Willie announces his engagement and plans to marry his sweetheart. All this upsets his mother greatly, who makes several attempts to get her way.

Mr. Montague stays at the Wilder boarding house while he is at Walnut Grove researching for a book that he is writing. Matthew Roger has a hard decision to make when his biological father shows up. Matthew decides to leave Mr. Edwards and go with his father. Mr. Edwards moves into the boarding house so he wouldn't be lonely anymore.