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1974
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| Original Air Date—11 September 1974
After moving his family from Wisconsin's 'big woods' to Minnesota's prairie, pioneer Charles Ingalls settles on farmland by Plum Creek just outside the town of Walnut Grove. To support his family until he can bring in a harvest, Charles works several jobs, establishing himself as a valued community member and a man of his word. But a rash promise to complete a job for devious Liam O'Neill by a specified time and a fall from a tree while rescuing a kite on a family picnic, threaten to ruin the Ingalls hopes for their future. How will the family pull together to save their farm and can they count on help from their new friends? |
| Original Air Date—18 September 1974
Mean Nellie Oleson snubs Laura and Mary for wearing homespun dresses on their first day at school and, when Laura later complains, Caroline reminds her to be kind to Nellie to win her friendship. But Caroline forgets her own wise words, loses her temper with Nellie's haughty mother, store owner Harriet Oleson, and impulsively buys dress fabric she can barely afford. Later, Laura struggles to write an essay for the Visitors' Day program and Caroline must decide what to do with the expensive fabric. When Visitors' Day arrives, their love for each other helps both mother and daughter solve their problems. |
| Original Air Date—25 September 1974
When their wheat crop is ravaged by a hailstorm, the discouraged Walnut Grove men leave town to search for work. During his long walk, Charles meets Danny Peters, a flamboyant hard rock miner who recommends Charles for the well-paying but dangerous job of 'powder monkey', part of a 2-man hole drilling team needed to hand-set blasting charges in a rock quarry. Meanwhile, back in Walnut Grove, Caroline organizes the women to try to salvage what they can of the damaged wheat. In the end, though separated by distance and circumstance, the pioneer families work together to meet the challenge of unpredictable prairie life. |
| Original Air Date—2 October 1974
While in Mankato, Charles is surprised to find Isaiah Edwards, the mountain man befriended by the Ingalls family on their journey to Minnesota. The two men return to Walnut Grove together to find young Laura sick in bed and a worried Mr. Edwards promises to stay until she recovers. But Mr. Edwards' deep concern for Laura stems from a devastating personal loss and he cannot forgive the one he holds responsible. Will the Ingalls' friendship and a budding romance with postmistress Grace Snider help Mr. Edwards come to terms with his past or will he leave Walnut Grove for good? |
| Original Air Date—9 October 1974
Friction results between the Ingalls sisters when young Laura falls hard for handsome Johnny Johnson who, in spite of all her efforts to get him to see her as more than just a little girl, seems to only have eyes for older Mary. |
| Original Air Date—23 October 1974
Certain that only her funeral will bring her distant children and grandchildren to Walnut Grove for a long overdue visit, Amy Hearn convinces Doc Baker and the Ingalls to fake her death and happily makes plans to celebrate her eightieth birthday ... at her wake! |
| Original Air Date—30 October 1974
Laura befriends Olga, a girl crippled from birth with one leg shorter than the other and who, as a result, is teased by Nellie and often left out of the other children's games. But when Charles comes up with a way to help Olga walk more normally, he meets unexpected resistance...from Olga's over-protective father. |
| Original Air Date—6 November 1974
While on a second honeymoon trip with Charles in Mankato, Caroline can't help worrying about what's happening back home in Walnut Grove where old friend, Mr. Edwards, finds that babysitting three active little girls is not as simple as it seems. |
| Season 1, Episode 9: School MomOriginal Air Date—13 November 1974
Caroline's special efforts to teach a shy, older boy to read while she is substitute-teaching for an injured Miss Beadle are ruined when mean-spirited Mrs. Oleson humiliates him in front of the class and he vows never to return to school. |
| Season 1, Episode 10: The RacoonOriginal Air Date—20 November 1974
Blaming herself when Laura's doll breaks during a game of catch, Mary is delighted to give her sad, little sister an abandoned, baby raccoon. After Pa reluctantly agrees to let her keep him, Laura names him "Jasper", teaches him tricks and tries to keep the mischief-maker out of trouble. But one day, Jasper bites Jack, the Ingalls' dog, and disappears into the woods. When Charles later shoots a snarling, rabid raccoon who is killing the chickens and begins to watch Jack for signs of rabies, a tearful Mary reveals a terrible secret... Jasper had also bitten Laura who made Mary promise not to tell. |
| Original Air Date—4 December 1974
A deaf-mute traveling tinker may have the only solution after Rev. Alden's request for a new church bell starts the Kennedys and Olesons feuding over who will donate the bell and who will take the credit. |
| Season 1, Episode 12: The AwardOriginal Air Date—11 December 1974
A frightened, angry Caroline impulsively forbids Mary from taking a scholarship exam as punishment for accidentally starting a late-night fire in the barn where she had gone to study to keep from waking her sleeping little sister, Laura. But more than anything, Mary wants the exam winner's prize, a beautiful, new Webster's Dictionary, and when she delays telling her teacher that she won't be taking the test, Laura worries that her big sister is planning to defy their mother. |
| Original Air Date—18 December 1974
Jealous of the attention Charles showers on his newborn son, Laura longs for the place she believes she's lost in her pa's affections and angrily refuses to pray for her little brother to get well when the baby becomes seriously ill. |
| Original Air Date—18 December 1974
Believing that her jealousy was responsible for her infant brother's death and that her parents would rather have a son than a spare daughter, Laura climbs the highest hill she can find, hoping to get as close to God as possible to ask Him to take her instead and return the baby boy to the family. While Charles and Mr. Edwards desperately search for her, Laura meets Jonathan, a mystical mountain man who seems to have been sent purposely to guide her through this life-changing experience. |
| Original Air Date—25 December 1974
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| Original Air Date—15 January 1975
Divorce looms when Nels and his dog storm away from Harriet and the mercantile after the Olesons quarrel over the price of eggs. But the situation only gets more muddled when the townsfolk try to help them reconcile, prompting Harriet to pack her bags and causing some to wonder, a little wistfully, if Walnut Grove wouldn't be more peaceful if the volatile woman left town for good. |
| Original Air Date—22 January 1975
It's love at first sight between Doc Baker and a beautiful, though much younger, Kate Thorvald, Harriet Oleson's visiting niece; but when Kate happily consents to become his wife, Doc's concerned friends wonder if the May-December romance and the harsh reality of sharing a prairie-doctor's life will give the genteel, city-bred girl second thoughts and result in heartache for both of them. |
| Season 1, Episode 18: PlagueOriginal Air Date—29 January 1975
With the sudden intensity of a prairie storm, typhoid is unleashed on an unsuspecting Walnut Grove, teaming Charles with Doc Baker and Reverend Alden, who work together to the point of exhaustion tending to the community's sick and dying; but when new victims begin to pour in from the surrounding countryside the desperate men know they must find the source of the plague if they expect to stop the deadly epidemic. |
| Season 1, Episode 19: Circus ManOriginal Air Date—5 February 1975
Jovial Willie O'Hara, a traveling, patent-medicine salesman, comes to Walnut Grove with his talking crow and chimpanzee "circus", appears to immediately cure Mr. Hanson's incurable headache and convinces most of the community that his remedy is good for anything, and everything, that ails them. But an angry Doc Baker must intervene when Mrs. Oleson believes that the potion will cure her life-threatening appendicitis and later, Laura learns a difficult lesson when she expects O'Hara's miraculous medicine to heal her seriously injured best friend...her beloved dog, Jack. |
| Original Air Date—12 February 1975
The Walnut Grove community intervenes after a badly-beaten Graham Stewart is found unconscious on the floor of his cabin, the victim of his father, John's, drunken rage. While Graham recovers at the Ingalls' farm, John Stewart reluctantly agrees to let Charles Ingalls help him dry out and, in the process, begins to face the root of the anger that drives him to drink and hurt the son who loves him. |
| Season 1, Episode 21: Money CropOriginal Air Date—19 February 1975
Fearing a swindle, angry Walnut Grove farmers vent their frustration on the anxious, pregnant wife of the man who promised them a good deal on hybrid corn and then doesn't show up with the grain as agreed, unaware that an accident has overturned his fully-loaded wagon and left him lying seriously injured down a steep slope, just out of sight of the road. |
| Season 1, Episode 22: SurvivalOriginal Air Date—26 February 1975
While on their way home to Walnut Grove after a trip to Mankato, the Ingalls family are unexpectedly snowbound, with little food, at a remote mountain cabin by a late-spring blizzard. But a desperate situation soon turns deadly when a renegade U.S. Marshall, blinded by hate, shows up half-frozen at their door, only moments ahead of the man he has vowed to bring back dead: a Sioux Indian chief who has just saved Charles' life. |
| Original Air Date—5 March 1975
Taking full responsibility for filling Johnny Johnson's head with exaggerated tales of travel and adventure, Mr. Edwards goes with him when Johnny takes off to see the world, hoping to protect the credulous farm-boy from dangerous situations and unscrupulous characters while trying to convince him to go back home. |
| Original Air Date—7 May 1975
Walnut Groves' Founder's Day festivities promise fun and friendly competition for all except aging logger and "Bull of the Woods" Jim Tyler, who secretly fears losing the log chopping contest, and with it his self respect, to a younger, stronger Charles Ingalls. |
| Original Air Date—10 September 1975
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| Season 2, Episode 2: Four EyesOriginal Air Date—17 September 1975
The mysterious decline in Mary's school performance is explained when Charles discovers that she needs glasses; but the joyous self-confidence that comes with Mary's improved eyesight is short-lived after Nellie and Willie incite the rest of the class to call her "Four Eyes" and tease that she'll end up a spinster like teacher, Miss Beadle. |
| Original Air Date—24 September 1975
Laura Ingalls is stunned to learn that her amiable fishing friend is none other than Walnut Grove's new banker, miserly Ebenezer Sprague, and heartbroken when he accuses her of becoming his friend to secure a loan for her family. |
| Original Air Date—1 October 1975
Jebediah Mumfort's keen eye and fast arm seem to be just what Walnut Grove's baseball team needs to go up against Sleepy Eye's powerful hurler, Slick McBurney, and end their long-standing losing streak. But, hopes are dashed when his devout wife, Margaret, finds out that most of the town is wagering on the outcome of the game and refuses to let him play; until Caroline Ingalls proposes a creative solution that may save the day and give Walnut Grove the chance to finally defeat their nemesis . |
| Original Air Date—8 October 1975
Although many in Walnut Grove think he's a homicidal maniac who lives in a haunted house, brave Laura Ingalls befriends mysterious hermit, Amos Pike, and soon discovers the truth behind both the rumors and the old man's reclusive life. |
| Original Air Date—29 October 1975
Caroline is puzzled when her plan to provoke Isaiah Edwards to jealousy doesn't result in an invitation to the annual spring dance for his anxious gal, Grace Snider, until Charles reminds her what happened when she tried the same tactic with him years before. |
| Original Air Date—5 November 1975
A woman of strong faith, widow Julia Sanderson is unafraid of Doc Baker's diagnosis of incurable cancer, but knows she must help her three children cope with the news of her imminent death and secures neighbor Charles Ingalls' help, and his promise, to keep them together in a good home after she's gone. |
| Original Air Date—12 November 1975
When it appears no Walnut Grove family will adopt all three of the Sanderson children together, a weary Charles fears he must break his promise to their mother, resigning himself to finding good homes for them, even if it means one of them may be forced to move far away from the other two. |
| Original Air Date—19 November 1975
In spite of a rocky start and over Charles' strong objections, the Olesons accompany the Ingalls on a family camping trip and, surprisingly, the oft-feuding families begin to enjoy each other's company. But will the warming relationship between them survive a cold plunge into a rushing river and Willie's rash decision to add a special leaf to his collection...the one that Mary won't touch? |
| Original Air Date—10 December 1975
Laura swears her friend Jonah to secrecy after the two uncover a shiny golden ore lying in the bed of their favorite fishing hole and both begin planning what they will do with the great wealth they are sure to have once they've mined their treasure and taken it to the bank. |
| Season 2, Episode 11: The GiftOriginal Air Date—17 December 1975
With the money they raised, the Sunday school class decides to buy a new Bible for Reverend Alden's birthday. Mary is entrusted with the total revenue: $1.67, and the new Bible they'd like to buy costs $3.00. Laura has an idea how they can quickly turn their $1.67 into $3.00: by spending the money on holistic medicines and selling them at 25 cents a bottle. They'd raise $3.00 in no time. However, their first attempts at pedaling the medicine prove unsuccessful. As the reverend's birthday draws ever closer, Mary and Laura, having sold no medicine, are faced with a huge dilemma. Will they fess up and admit to Reverend Alden that they have no gift to bring, or have they, in a way, already given him a much more valuable gift? |
| Original Air Date—7 January 1976
Trying to interest his newly adopted son in more "manly" pursuits than reading and writing poetry, Isaiah Edwards buys a rifle for John Jr.'s birthday and stubbornly insists that the two of them go turkey hunting, even though the sensitive teenager has made it plain that he doesn't want to go. But a life-threatening situation during the hunt and a secret revealed afterward, result in a life-changing event for both of them. |
| Original Air Date—14 January 1976
A new-fangled talking machine that has the ability to record voices is just what treacherous Nellie Oleson needs to embarrass rival Laura Ingalls when both girls vie for the same boy's affections. |
| Original Air Date—28 January 1976
Mary worries that she'll disappoint Walnut Grove if she doesn't place first in the state mathematics competition after the community pays her way to represent them; meanwhile Laura's feelings of jealousy towards her older sister are soothed and she begins to feel more grown-up after her wise Pa asks her to take charge of the Ingalls household while Carolyn accompanies Mary to Minneapolis. |
| Original Air Date—4 February 1976
Caroline Ingalls sends her family on ahead to the picnic grounds for the week-end, planning to join them after baking pies for a church fund-raiser, unaware that a simple scratch on her leg is quickly festering into a life-threatening infection. |
| Original Air Date—11 February 1976
While on a trip to Springfield, Carl Edwards accidentally releases the brake on a caboose that he, Mary and Laura are exploring, sending the lone car and the terrified trio hurtling down the tracks towards an oncoming express train. |
| Original Air Date—25 February 1976
When teacher, Miss Beadle, is deemed unable to control some of the rowdy, older boys in her class, Mrs. Oleson convinces the Walnut Grove school board to replace her with a firmer, male hand. But the new schoolmaster tries to bully his students into submission and singles little Laura out as a troublemaker, blaming and punishing her for the slightest infraction even when she isn't the one responsible. |
| Original Air Date—3 March 1976
When their grain doesn't sell for enough to see their families through the winter, Charles and Isaiah hire on with the railroad to haul a wagon-load of highly explosive nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain road and, as their journey progresses, find themselves dealing with situations almost as volatile as the freight they so carefully carry. |
| Original Air Date—10 March 1976
Caroline and the girls can't help but think the worst when Charles begins to behave mysteriously and later lies about the amount of time he has spent doing carpentry work for their lovely, young neighbor, the widow Elizabeth Thurman. |
| Season 2, Episode 20: CentennialOriginal Air Date—17 March 1976
An immigrant family provides an example of thankfulness and a reminder that freedom isn't free after a property tax increase leaves most of Walnut Grove in no mood to celebrate the United States' 100th birthday. |
| Original Air Date—24 March 1976
Coming home after 12 years of performing with a busy Philadelphia orchestra, Mrs. Whipple's troubled son, Granville, hopes that the peace of Walnut Grove will help him shake the nightmares and the morphine addiction that resulted from an incident during the Civil War Battle of Shiloh. |
| Season 2, Episode 22: Going HomeOriginal Air Date—31 March 1976
Overwhelmed by the senseless destruction left in the wake of a devastating tornado, a bone-weary Charles Ingalls convinces himself to give up trying to make a life for his family on an unforgiving prairie, puts the farm up for sale and prepares to move back to the big woods where he was born. |
| Original Air Date—27 September 1976
After rescuing a seriously ill, unconscious Reverend Alden from his runaway wagon, down on his luck plainsman, Caleb Hodgekiss, puts on the clergyman's collar and devises a plan to fleece the charitable townsfolk of Walnut Grove. |
| Season 3, Episode 2: BunnyOriginal Air Date—4 October 1976
When Nellie Oleson is seriously injured after falling from Bunny, a horse that used to belong to Laura Ingalls, Nellie's mother blames Laura for the accident and orders the animal destroyed. But Laura secretly steals her still-beloved Bunny away from Mrs. Oleson's vengeance and resigns herself to the penance of waiting hand and foot on a demanding, bedridden Nellie. |
| Season 3, Episode 3: The RaceOriginal Air Date—11 October 1976
Conniving Mrs. Oleson is so certain that her scheming and daughter Nellie's new thoroughbred racehorse will beat Laura Ingall's speedy mount, Bunny, in the Hero Township horse race that she puts up a valuable family heirloom as first prize. |
| Original Air Date—18 October 1976
A broken-down drunk trying to forget his past may be little Carrie Ingalls's only hope of rescue after she falls into a deep hole while chasing a butterfly. |
| Original Air Date—1 November 1976
Passing the Oleson's house while out with Mary for a night of window soaping on a spooky Halloween eve, Laura hears a loud argument and peers in the window just in time to witness Mr. Oleson swing his sword... and cut off Mrs. Oleson's head! |
| Original Air Date—15 November 1976
After a letter from Wisconsin brings the sad news of his mother's death, a grieving Charles travels back to his boyhood home in the big woods, hoping to convince his heartbroken father to return with him to Walnut Grove. |
| Original Air Date—22 November 1976
Life in Walnut Grove with Charles, Caroline and three active grandchildren seems to be just the tonic Grandpa Ingalls needs to help him recover from his wife's death until a broken promise after a terrible accident reopens an old wound and drives a wedge between him and granddaughter Laura. |
| Season 3, Episode 8: FredOriginal Air Date—29 November 1976
To save him from Farmer Parsons shotgun, Laura takes a cantankerous billy goat in trade for doing chores for Mrs. Parsons, names him Fred, and finds, much to her dismay, that mischievous Fred's constant companion is trouble. |
| Original Air Date—6 December 1976
Following Reverend Alden's lead, the Walnut Grove townsfolk try to turn the other cheek when the bad behavior of the recently arrived Galender brothers causes tempers to flare, until a series of incidents begins to reveal the trio's more sinister nature. |
| Original Air Date—20 December 1976
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| Season 3, Episode 11: BlizzardOriginal Air Date—3 January 1977
Kind Miss Beadle dismisses her students early on Christmas Eve as soft snow flurries begin to fly, unaware that the children will soon be caught walking home in a deadly, howling blizzard. |
| Original Air Date—10 January 1977
Mr. Edwards adopted son, John, must choose between going away to school for several years to realize his dream of becoming a writer or marrying his true love, Mary Ingalls, and living the life of a farmer in Walnut Grove. |
| Season 3, Episode 13: QuarantineOriginal Air Date—17 January 1977
Counting on his immunity to protect him from the deadly mountain fever that killed his first wife and daughter, Isaiah Edwards takes Doc Baker to help with neighboring Elmsville's outbreak. But after contact with an infected townsman, Mr. Edwards unwittingly carries the disease back to Walnut Grove and when daughter, Alicia, develops symptoms, he must fight to save his new family while the rest of the town goes into quarantine. |
| Original Air Date—24 January 1977
Mrs. Oleson rewrites Alcott's "Little Women" to ensure Nellie is the star in Walnut Grove's school play based on the classic story; but shy Ginny Clark steals the show when, taking a lesson from her character, Jo, to try to get her bitter mother to come to the event, she surprises everyone by playing her part to perfection, both on and off the stage. |
| Season 3, Episode 15: Injun KidOriginal Air Date—31 January 1977
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| Original Air Date—14 February 1977
Dangerous work is the only way Charles can pay for Mary's operation. |
| Original Air Date—21 February 1977
While Mary fights a life-threatening infection and the hospital bills mount, Charles puts himself and a railroad tunneling team in danger by volunteering to complete a dangerous blasting job in unsafe conditions to earn the cash bonus he so desperately needs. |
| Original Air Date—7 March 1977
Yearning to escape the hard life that sent his father to an early grave, the young son of poor, black Mississippi sharecroppers makes his way to Walnut Grove and offers to sell himself to the Ingalls' family in exchange for an education. |
| Original Air Date—14 March 1977
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| Original Air Date—21 March 1977
As a prank to make him look foolish, the older boys of Walnut Grove school nominate the object of their practical jokes, gentle Elmer Dobkins, to run for class president against popular Mary Ingalls and wealthy Nellie Oleson. While Mary and Nellie wage their campaigns with promises of popcorn and gum balls, Mr. Dobkins witnesses his son being teased by the older boys and, when he finds out why Elmer was nominated, angrily orders him to pull out of the election. But, when election day comes and the race seems too close to call, a cruel act and children tired of being bullied decide the outcome. |
| Original Air Date—4 April 1977
When a particularly rainy growing season in Walnut Grove destroys any hope of a harvest the Ingalls and the Edwards families set out on a 400 mile trip to the Dakota gold fields, hoping to pan enough gold to see them through the cold Minnesota winter. There they meet other families with similar hopes and dreams as well as those who will stop at nothing to acquire the wealth they desire. Can Charles and Isaiah keep their families safe and reach their goal in this wild and dangerous country? |
| Original Air Date—4 April 1977
The Ingalls and the Edwards strike gold on their Dakota claim and, as the men work at extracting the ore, Caroline and Grace start a school for the miners' children with the help of the local minister, Reverend Phillips. But even as the families try to lead a normal life, greed, the bane of the gold rush, raises its ugly head. Caroline is alarmed when even Charles is unable to define how much gold is 'enough' and when Laura's discovery of an old miner's secret results in murder and betrayal the Walnut Grove residents begin to question their motives for staying any longer in this dangerous country. |
| Season 4, Episode 1: CastoffsOriginal Air Date—12 September 1977
An eccentric old woman who has set up her "house" in the center of town and a stray dog who hitches a ride to Plum Creek from Mankato in Charles Ingalls' wagon both, in their own way, help Laura through the loss of an old friend and teach her and rest Walnut Grove lessons in love and acceptance. |
| Original Air Date—19 September 1977
An excited Mary Ingalls accompanies her father to the Chicago Grange Convention to surprise her true love, John Edwards, by accepting his invitation to a cotillion in person. But, surprises are in store for everyone as both Charles and Mary experience a trip very different from the one they each expected. |
| Season 4, Episode 3: My EllenOriginal Air Date—26 September 1977
After eleven year old Ellen Taylor accidentally drowns while swimming on a hot summer day with the Ingalls girls, her grief-stricken mother, Eloise, first blames Laura for asking Ellen to go to the pond with them and then, unable to accept the reality of her little girl's death, begins to imagine that Laura is Ellen. |
| Original Air Date—3 October 1977
Meddling Mrs. Oleson starts tongues wagging when a handsome itinerant handyman stays in the Ingalls' barn while helping Caroline with a kitchen addition after Charles is called out of town to work on Mr. Hanson's railroad lumber contract. |
| Season 4, Episode 5: The WolvesOriginal Air Date—17 October 1977
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| Original Air Date—24 October 1977
Junior detectives Andy and Laura take tips from fictional sleuth Farnsdale Fremont of Scotland Yard to track down the mysterious Walnut Grove chicken thief, ruffling a few feathers of their own along the way. |
| Original Air Date—31 October 1977
Holding himself responsible for a farmer friend's death and unable to face the man's seven-months pregnant widow, a disheartened Doc Baker leaves his Walnut Grove practice in the hands of a self-absorbed Philadelphia physician and decides to raise corn. |
| Original Air Date—7 November 1977
As Walnut Grove school begins to study the Civil War, Mary Ingalls unexpectedly learns firsthand information when she starts running errands for two mysterious newcomers who sided with the South. But Mr. Hobbs and Mr. Dankworth are hiding more than just their war affiliation and the whole town comes under siege when an overzealous posse rides in, prepared to capture them at any cost. |
| Original Air Date—14 November 1977
After the Garveys' grain-filled barn burns down and leaves them with no crop to sell, proud Jonathan refuses to accept help from anyone, even his wife Alice, and their marriage is put to the test when neither half of the stubborn couple will consider the other's solution to the problem. |
| Original Air Date—21 November 1977
A road-weary, aging boxer who has sacrificed his family and his health for the only career he has ever known, comes to a long-dreaded crossroads when he unexpectedly meets his match in a ring in Walnut Grove. |
| Original Air Date—28 November 1977
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| Original Air Date—5 December 1977
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| Original Air Date—12 December 1977
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| Season 4, Episode 14: The RivalsOriginal Air Date—9 January 1978
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| Original Air Date—16 January 1978
On Rev. Alden's recommendation, Mary is hired as a teacher in a small backwoods community called Willow Run. There, she is met with pure hatred from its town leader, Miss Peel, an elderly woman who is fiercely opposed to the school. Miss Peel's determination to drive Mary from town proves to be a severe test to the Ingalls girl's resolve and character. |
| Original Air Date—23 January 1978
Traveling Charles Ingalls struggles with a broken wagon wheel and bad weather trying to get home in time to celebrate his wedding anniversary while, back in Plum Creek, waiting wife Caroline tries to keep worry at bay by entertaining their daughters with the tale of another time she was kept waiting and how she and their father first met. |
| Original Air Date—30 January 1978
After finding a number of bottles containing messages, including a photograph, from a mysterious girl, Laura finds an abandoned baby. Laura takes the child in and cares for it like it was her own, not knowing it belongs to a timid young woman with an abusive father. |
| Original Air Date—6 February 1978
In this episode, Charles receives word of an inheritance from an eccentric uncle. Soon, the whole town is abuzz, eagerly helping the initially reluctant Ingalls family spend the promised money. As the debt rises, so does Charles' discomfiture...until the consequences of the blessing make it feel more like a curse. |
| Original Air Date—20 February 1978
When young Peter Lundstrom is expelled from his private school for petty theft, his wealthy father sends the boy to stay with cousin Nels Oleson in Walnut Grove for a long-overdue lesson in values. |
| Original Air Date—27 February 1978
An misinterpreted remark from husband Charles plants a seed of worry in newly pregnant Caroline Ingalls that he will be disappointed if the baby isn't a boy. |
| Original Air Date—6 March 1978
Long hours studying by candlelight for the state teacher's exam results in tired, blurry eyes for Mary Ingalls, prompting a routine visit to the eye doctor; but when Charles is told that Mary's worsening sight is just the beginning of a much more serious problem, the concerned father can't bring himself to tell his beloved daughter that she will, most certainly, soon be completely blind. |
| Original Air Date—13 March 1978
Feeling lost and abandoned, Mary Ingalls battles anger and self-pity at a school for the blind, far away from the little house by Plum Creek. But soon, Mary finds a source of hope in her new teacher, Adam Kendall, and as the two young people work together they find they have much in common. Meanwhile, back in Walnut Grove, many are forced to consider the real possibility of having to start a new life elsewhere as the town's economy erodes and work becomes scarce. |
| Original Air Date—11 September 1978
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| Original Air Date—18 September 1978
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| Original Air Date—25 September 1978
Trying to convince Luke Hoskins, blinded by a childhood bout with the measles, that he can lead a productive life, Adam Kendall battles Luke's bitter, skeptical father and is unexpectedly aided by the underdog Winoka Warriors, who have just lost their star player to a rival football team. |
| Original Air Date—2 October 1978
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| Original Air Date—9 October 1978
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| Original Air Date—16 October 1978
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| Season 5, Episode 7: FaginOriginal Air Date—23 October 1978
Laura Ingalls becomes jealous of the extra attention her father pays to new family member, Albert, especially after the boy is given a new calf to raise for the county fair, and asked to call Charles "Pa". |
| Original Air Date—30 October 1978
Sterling Murdoch arrives in Walnut Grove planning to found a newspaper. The fledgling newspaper is The Pen and the Plow, and its star reporter is none other than one Harriet Olesen. At first, everyone including the Ingalls welcome the newspaper, but the completely inaccurate content of the "Harriet's Happenings" column soon has some people losing their enthusiasm. Nels reminds his wife that a reporter's job is to be accurate, but Mrs. Olesen suggests she's merely "reporting the fact that they are rumors"; he is even more frustrated when she suggests holding an unethical sale at the store. Later, Nellie loses a spot in the county's spelling bee to Erich Schiller, the son of German immigrants and outstanding student in his class. Mrs. Olesen is outraged and in her next column, writes a story suggesting that Erich's parents are illiterate. Erich is deeply upset by the story and it causes him to perform badly at the county spelling bee; he even drops out of school. With some help from Charles, Mr. Schiller tells Erich that he is proud of his son and has a great future ahead of him; this is enough to get him to come back to school. Charles is unable to make headway with Murdoch about his newspaper, since Murdoch reasons that people like reading their names in print and it means more advertising and money. Laura and Albert get some revenge when they switch the printing plates and publish some unflattering stories about Nellie and Mrs. Olesen, and an ad that suggests a 100 percent-off sale at the Mercantile. When Caroline refuses to punish Laura and Albert over their trick, Mrs. Olesen responds by publishing a story stating that Charles fathered Albert outside his marriage (along with another item that suggests that the Garveys are heavily in debt). An angry Charles has enough and, at church on Sunday, exposes "The Pen and the Plow" as yellow journalism, and that everyone else shares in the blame for reading the paper even though they knew the stories were clearly untrue. It isn't long before the newspaper is forced to stop publishing and Murdoch is driven from town. In the close, Laura tells how she hoped that someday, Walnut Grove would get a legitimate newspaper. |
| Original Air Date—6 November 1978
Mary Ingalls happily accepts Adam Kendall's long-awaited marriage proposal but gets cold feet when she begins to consider the implications of two blind parents raising a family. |
| Original Air Date—13 November 1978
While their fathers secretly trail them, young Albert Ingalls and Andy Garvey set off to prove their mettle as men by accepting a challenge to live by their wits during a week-long, overland walk from Walnut Grove to Sleepy Eye and back. |
| Original Air Date—20 November 1978
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| Original Air Date—27 November 1978
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| Original Air Date—4 December 1978
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| Original Air Date—18 December 1978
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| Original Air Date—8 January 1979
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| Original Air Date—15 January 1979
Laura Ingalls is horrified to witness the fall from a tree that blinds her friend, Jordan Harrison, while he's performing a circus stunt. But when she finds out that Jordan's sight has returned, Laura must decide whether it's right when he asks her to keep it a secret, especially after Jordan tells her that his parents' concern for him appears to have brought them back from the brink of divorce. |
| Original Air Date—22 January 1979
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| Original Air Date—5 February 1979
Adam Kendall is more than a little surprised when wife Mary's letter to his estranged father announcing her pregnancy brings the man to Walnut Grove. But it soon appears that the anticipation of a sighted grandson and not a change of heart towards his blind son may be the reason for the elder Kendall's visit. |
| Original Air Date—12 February 1979
Kezia doesn't believe in paying property taxes, and it isn't long before Mrs. Oleson decides to foreclose on the property and purchase it for herself as the family's vacation home. Nels objects to the purchase, knowing she had acquired it unfairly and that Kezia would have no place to go, but Mrs. Oleson responds by moving herself and Nellie and Willie to the lakeside property. Mrs. Oleson, in a show of pity, hires Kezia to be their servant and forces her to live in the shack. Laura, Albert and Andy watch from afar and are disgusted at how cruelly the three Olesons are treating their friend Kezia, and also aware that Mrs. Oleson used underhanded means to buy the property. One night, after hearing Caroline read a story about monsters, Albert comes up with an idea to concoct a monster to drive the Olesons off the property. Working with Kezia, the children set their plans in motion, but Mrs. Oleson, Nellie and Willie are too smart for any tricks and harden their resolve to stay on "their" property. Eventually, Laura, Andy and Albert bring out the heavy artillery: creating a Loch Ness monster out of paper maché. When they hatch their plans, Mrs. Oleson and her children are convinced that the (non-existant) monster poses a real threat to their safety and they beat it. Nels celebrates the success of Laura's plan with Kezia and the others, and it isn't long before Kezia's ownership in her property is restored ... with the promise she will pay her property taxes, no matter what she thinks. |
| Original Air Date—19 February 1979
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| Original Air Date—26 February 1979
Hoping for a miracle, Charles takes Mary to a specialist in Mankato to find out if the light she has been seeing means that her sight may be returning, while husband Adam worries that she won't need him anymore, and an excited Laura enlists Albert's help to fix up an abandoned cabin to serve as the Kendalls' new home. |
| Original Air Date—5 March 1979
While out of town to buy horses, Charles Ingalls boards with Brett Harper, a man who is emotionally withdrawn from his unhappy family and trying to lose himself in work and whiskey, blaming himself for the accidental death of his oldest son in a riding accident four years earlier. |
| Original Air Date—12 March 1979
Charles and Jonathan meet with danger as deadly as the disease they left behind them when they are sent for the medical supplies needed to battle an outbreak of anthrax in Walnut Grove. |
| Original Air Date—19 March 1979
Talented young painter Dylan Whitaker promised his dying father that he would some day see the ocean he loves to put on canvas; but "some day" comes too soon when Dylan is diagnosed with incurable leukemia and, to keep his promise, he and his concerned friends, Laura and Albert, sneak away from Walnut Grove to hop a railroad freight car bound for the California coast. |
| Original Air Date—17 September 1979
The sixth-season begins with several new stories. First, there's the arrival of new teacher Eliza Jane Wilder and her handsome brother, Almanzo. Rivals Laura and Nellie have their eye on the 25-year-old New York native, and are determined to do anything to snare him. Mrs. Oleson, meanwhile, gives recent Walnut School graduate Nellie her own business: A hotel and restaurant in her name! |
| Original Air Date—24 September 1979
Laura and Nellie butt heads when they engage in a series of dirty tricks over romantic interest, the handsome Almanzo Wilder. |
| Original Air Date—1 October 1979
A school project on genealogy leads Albert to confront his dark past. As the Ingalls help Albert with the project, Charles and Caroline decide to adopt the young lad. Then, Albert's biological father Mr. Quinn shows up. |
| Original Air Date—8 October 1979
During a trip to a teaching awards ceremony in Minneapolis, the stagecoach that Adam, Mary and a pregnant woman named Marge are riding in is involved in a rollover accident. Mary is the only one who is able to free herself and is left to rely on her own wits to find help. Meanwhile, Laura and Albert give Nellie and Mrs. Oleson quite a buzz when the Ingalls' youths offer a hive of bees to their honey- and money-hungry rivals ... not telling them they are really hornets! |
| Season 6, Episode 5: AnnabelleOriginal Air Date—15 October 1979
Nels becomes apprehensive when he learns that a traveling circus - in which his estranged sister, an obese woman named Annabelle, is one of the stars - is coming to Walnut Grove. Nels eventually realizes he needs to deal with his insecurities and make amends with Annabelle when he is asked to be the ringmaster. |
| Original Air Date—22 October 1979
Rev. Alden creates a stir in Walnut Grove when he falls in love with elderly parishioner Anna Craig. Mrs. Oleson objects to the relationship and gives the good preacher a choice: Either call off the impending marriage or get fired! |
| Original Air Date—29 October 1979
On Halloween, Albert has a dream where he and Laura are kidnapped by a rogue Indian tribe after they are mistaken as members of a rival tribe. |
| Original Air Date—5 November 1979
When Isaiah Edwards loses his will to live after a crippling logging accident, a letter to Walnut Grove from his worried wife, Grace, brings Charles and Laura back to the big woods to try to help their old friend. |
| Original Air Date—12 November 1979
Aging professional wrestler Milo Stavroupolis comes to nearby Mankato to "fight" the locals. Stavroupolis' promoter, the shrewd Jimmy Hart, convinces Jonathan Garvey to fight the old man ... unaware that the fight was "fixed." But there's even more heartbreak ahead, as Stavroupolis is suffering emotionally (and physically) after years of fighting; his beloved wife, Anna (herself desperately ill) has begged him to retire. The old man - conviced by Jonathan to substitute for him in the upcoming championship bout - gets one last hurrah when a cocky young fighter presses his luck before suffering a fatal heart attack in the ring. |
| Original Air Date—19 November 1979
On Mrs. Oleson's invitation, the Rev. James Danforth comes to Walnut Grove to give residents his charismatic, fiery style of preaching. The hypnotic Danforth claims to have actually "witnessed" the Word of the Lord and can perform great miracles as a faith healer. He demonstrates his abilities during one of his revivals, restoring sight to a blind person and giving a crippled person the ability to walk. The people are awestruck and soon flock to his services. Rev. Alden, Dr. Baker and Charles have all seen Danforth at work and reject his ministry; in the aftermath, attendance at Rev. Alden's Sunday services declines sharply, while Dr. Baker's practice also suffers. Later, a farmer's son complains of abdominal pain and places complete trust in Danforth to have it healed. Dr. Baker is nearby and urges the farmer to have surgery instead, but Danforth seems to heal the boy. But later that night, the boy's appendix bursts (just as Dr. Baker feared was about to happen) and he dies; the farmer is forced to admit that God "chose" his son to come home. Meanwhile, Charles is on a delivery run to Sleepy Eye and learns that Danforth is holding a revival there. He confirms his initial suspicions that Danforth is a charlatan and - working with the farmer, the Olesons and Dr. Baker - hatches a plan to expose Danforth as a liar. It isn't long before Walnut Grove residents return to their old congregation and all is forgiven. |
| Original Air Date—26 November 1979
During a trip to Walnut Grove, Caroline's mother passes away. Her father is very grief-stricken, until son-in-law Charles - impressed with his stories about growing up in the Little House in the Big Woods - suggests he publish an autobiography. |
| Original Air Date—10 December 1979
The telephone comes to Walnut Grove, and Mrs. Olesen is hired as the switchboard operator. She takes advantage of her responsibilities to engage in her favorite pastime: gathering gossip. It will have a very damaging effect on the Garveys' marriage when she learns about Alice's hidden past. |
| Original Air Date—17 December 1979
A 17-year-old budding criminal named Tod Dortmunder is sent to Walnut Grove to live with his grandparents after his mother loses patience with his ill-tempered behavior. His behavior becomes more violent, and when he is caught stealing Charles' watch, the grandparents (in part because they fear for their safety) turn to Charles for help. Charles proves to be the role model Tod never had, and efforts to rehabilitate the lad seem to be working. But even Charles is unaware of some dark secrets from Tod's childhood that don't surface until he destroys the present he gave him. |
| Original Air Date—7 January 1980
School bully Bart begins menacing his classmates, especially Albert. Tired of the constant harassment, Albert creates a paper maché werewolf mask to terrorize Bart into ceasing his bullying behavior. It works, until Carrie opens her mouth! It takes a joint effort by all of Bart's classmates to make him stop bullying. |
| Original Air Date—14 January 1980
During a visit to a farmer's convention in Milwaukee, Charles and Caroline meet up with old school mates. Charles learns that larger farmers are trying to put his small farming friends out of business and urges them to stand up for their profession. Meanwhile, Caroline becomes envious about the financial fortunes of their one-time friends, but she soon learns there's more to their success stories than meets the eye. |
| Original Air Date—21 January 1980
On a dark and stormy night, Laura and Mary are staying alone at the School For the Blind when they are taken hostage by a trio of escaped convicts. One of the criminals is badly injured, and his cohorts demand to see a doctor. Laura is sent to get Dr. Baker, warned that the consequences will be deadly if she tries any tricks. However, a terrified Laura tells her Pa what is happening. Charles shows up posing as Dr. Baker, but when the real Dr. Baker arrives, Charles is forced to be resourceful to disarm the crooks. |
| Original Air Date—28 January 1980
Laura takes a job tutoring a deaf boy named Daniel, teaching him how to communicate through sign language. Daniel makes more than an academic breakthrough - he develops a huge crush on Laura! Laura doesn't know quite what to do, and makes some mistakes along the way in dealing with her situation. |
| Original Air Date—4 February 1980
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. |
| Original Air Date—4 February 1980
Albert, Mary and Jonathan - all deeply impacted by the fire at the School For the Blind - continue to deal with their emotions. Charles helps Jonathan realize that his alcoholism has taken a toll on his son, Andy, while Mary snaps out of her shock when she hears the melody of the music box Albert had purchased for her as a gift. But Mary's initial panic soon becomes Albert's when he finally understands his carelessness caused the fire that killed her baby and best friend's mother. Albert runs away, leading Charles and a reformed Jonathan to frantically search for the lad. |
| Original Air Date—11 February 1980
Almanzo's indolent brother, Perley, comes to town. Knowing that Almanzo's interest in a much younger Laura has deepened, Charles is convinced that Perley is the better man for his "Half Pint." However, those sentiments quickly change when Perley injures one of Almanzo's horses. Two things become clear to Charles: Perley is a troublemaker, and Almanzo is a responsible young man (especially when he nurses the horse back to health). |
| Original Air Date—18 February 1980
Nels finally loses patience with his henpecked family life and begins a mobile merchant business. During one of his stops, he meets a much younger woman whom is the exact opposite of his own wife. In the process, Nels struggles with temptation and going astray as the relationship blossoms. |
| Original Air Date—25 February 1980
On Eliza Jane's recommendation, Laura gets her first teaching job out of town. Almanzo offers to drive her to and from the school, and their relationship continues to blossom. But a hitch is thrown into the whole thing when he sees one of Laura's students touching her in a seemingly romantic fashion, causing a misunderstanding that could jeopardize their relationship. |
| Original Air Date—5 May 1980
The romantic futures of longtime rivals Laura and Nellie take shape in the sixth season finale. First, Almanzo proposes to Laura, but Charles says that the marriage is on hold until Laura's 18th birthday. When Laura decides to honor her father's request, Almanzo feels that Laura is perhaps not mature enough to make a commitment and leaves town. Meanwhile, the Olesons ponder closing Nellie's Restaurant but decide to give it one last chance when they hire Percival Dalton, the man who will turn Nellie's rude, snotty demeanor and poor work ethic around 180 degrees. Meanwhile, Adam learns that his father has died and that a hoped-for inheritance - which he hoped to use to build a new School for the Blind - never materialized. |
| Original Air Date—12 May 1980
The relationships between Almanzo and Laura, and Percival and Nellie continue to be explored in the second half of the sixth-season finale. |
| Original Air Date—22 September 1980
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| Original Air Date—29 September 1980
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| Original Air Date—6 October 1980
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| Original Air Date—13 October 1980
Walnut Grove's obsessive new football coach pressures his players to win at any cost, locking horns with Laura over homework assignments, ignoring dangerous injuries and alienating his family. |
| Original Air Date—20 October 1980
Two young brothers, deserted by their parents and desperately trying to stay together, run away from the Sleepy Eye orphanage on the eve of an adoption that will separate them, and find an unlikely ally in grumpy old handyman, Houston Lamb. |
| Original Air Date—27 October 1980
Believing that she was abandoned at an orphanage as a child because she was losing her sight, blind artist Annie Crane angrily refuses her seriously ill birth mother's request to meet her. |
| Original Air Date—10 November 1980
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| Original Air Date—17 November 1980
Albert becomes a pen pal with a paraplegic girl. |
| Original Air Date—24 November 1980
Charles and Almanzo both encounter unexpected obstacles when each challenges the other to find the fastest freight route between Walnut Grove and Sleepy Eye. |
| Original Air Date—1 December 1980
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| Original Air Date—8 December 1980
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| Original Air Date—5 January 1981
Caroline Ingalls joins in protest with the rest of the Walnut Grove women to try to convince Charles and the other men to sign a petition addressing the injustice of a law that transfers a woman's property rights to her husband after marriage. |
| Original Air Date—12 January 1981
Percival's domineering father and Nellie's overbearing mother drive the expectant couple to distraction as they battle over whether their unborn grandchild will be raised Jewish or Christian. |
| Original Air Date—19 January 1981
Royal Wilder thinks of a perfect solution when he needs a break from dastardly duo Myron and Rupert, his spoiled, undisciplined sons...send the terrible two to Walnut Grove for a visit with unsuspecting Uncle Almanzo and Aunt Laura!
Next US airings: |
| Original Air Date—26 January 1981
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| Original Air Date—2 February 1981
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| Original Air Date—9 February 1981
New student Sylvia Webb, who has physically matured faster than most of her classmates, piques the physical curiosity of some of her male classmates. Albert goes along at first, but quickly becomes friends with Sylvia. However, he is unaware that she is trapped in a horrifying world: She's being stalked (and is eventually attacked by) a masked rapist; her father has a cold, uncaring attitude toward Sylvia's ordeal; and her cruel classmates continue to taunt her. Eventually, Sylvia collapses at school from exhaustion ... and it's because she's pregnant. |
| Original Air Date—16 February 1981
Mrs. Oleson spreads word that Albert had gotten Sylvia pregnant. Caroline knows this isn't true and confronts her nemesis over this misinformation. Mr. Webb decides that, because of the shame his daughter's ordeal brought him, they will move from Walnut Grove. Sylvia decides she'd be happier with Albert, and the two decide to get married. When Mr. Webb finds out Albert had visited her (despite a no-guests rule), he calls Sylvia a whore, and she runs away. Albert - who had gotten a job as at the blacksmith's shop - later helps search for Sylvia, but lets slip as to her whereabouts to the blacksmith. It all leads to one final confrontation, which does not have a happy ending. |
| Original Air Date—23 February 1981
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| Original Air Date—2 March 1981
Pregnancy symptoms hit both Laura and her mother Caroline. Caroline, after bearing four daughters, really wants a son. But when it turns out Caroline is not pregnant at all, but is beginning menopause, she sinks into a deep depression. Her husband and daughters desperately try to convince her that they love her for the person she is, not for the person she wanted to be. Finally, Charles proposes that he and Caroline renew their wedding vows. |
| Original Air Date—4 May 1981
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| Original Air Date—11 May 1981
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| Original Air Date—5 September 1981
Several weeks earlier, Percy and Nellie traveled to New York (with their infant twins, Benny and Jenny) to help run the family's store and hotel after Percy's father, Mr. Cohen, falls gravely ill; the elder Mr. Cohen soon dies. Nellie - who is never seen on-camera - writes to her parents and tells them that their stay in New York will now be permanent to carry on the family business. This news saddens Nels, but Mrs. Olesen's life virtually comes to a complete stop. She is deeply depressed, refuses to eat and cannot sleep; there are times when she'd rather be dead. Nels and Dr. Baker are very concerned and decide to talk Mrs. Olesen into adopting a 9- or 10-year-old girl. At first, Mrs. Olesen flatly objects, but changes her mind after Cassandra visits with her. The Olesens travel to the orphanage in Sleepy Eye to visit with the young girls; Nels considers one of the well-mannered girls, but Mrs. Olesen rejects them all since none of them are like Nellie. Nels tries to reason with his wife; just when he gives up hope, there is a loud crash and a scuffle involving one of the girls. Mrs. Olesen's spirits immediately perk up, and it isn't long before they find out who this girl is - Nancy, a bratty troublemaker who is exactly the girl Mrs. Olesen is after. Nels tries to get his wife to reconsider, but upon learning that Nancy will soon be taken to a home for behavior-problem children, he feels obliged to adopt the girl for everyone's sake. Willie objects when he meets his new sister, since it will ruin his chance at a normal childhood. As one might expect, Nancy immediately asserts herself as the town's new troublemaker, getting into a first-day-of-school fight with Cassandra and stealing Willie's homework. After the latter incident, Nels wants to reprimand Nancy but Mrs. Olesen interferes. Laura has a talk with Nancy to find out the reason behind her bratty behavior, and Nancy says its because she was abandoned by her mother. Nancy then wants to get the starring role in an upcoming talent show, but classmate Belinda Petersen has gotten the nod instead. Nancy then schemes to do away with Belinda, and hatches her plan by inviting her over under the premise of practicing songs for the upcoming show, and asking her to get some ice from the ice house. Nancy gets Willie to close the door to the ice house, he being unaware that Belinda is inside. Other stories in the episode involve Adam and Mary planning to move to New York to take over his father's law practice (since meaningful work can't be found in Walnut Grove); and Hester Sue coming to work at Nellie's Restaurant and Hotel (after the state closes the School for the Blind). |
| Original Air Date—12 September 1981
Nels goes to the ice house to get supplies and finds an unconscious (and frozen) Belinda inside. Belinda, as it turns out, will be just fine, but Nels decides to get some answers. Nancy claims she saw Willie close the door to the ice house (which he affirms), but she says nothing more about why; only the audience knows it was part of a diabolical plan to kill off her school rival and obtain the leading role in the school talent show. Later, Charles is visiting Sleepy Eye and visits with the orphanage director. In casual conversation, Charles learns that Nancy's mother had died due to childbirth complications, and that her behavior was growing increasingly worse; had the Olesens not adopted her, she would have been moved to a home for behavior-problem children. Charles shares his findings with Laura, who is left speechless. They then deduce that Nancy was behind the plan to lock Belinda in the ice house and Willie was left to play an unwitting role. Laura concludes that one-time rival Nellie had done some bad things during her wilder days, but even Nellie had morals and limits; Nancy's behavior, on the other hand, has no bounds and that what she has done has already far outdone Nellie. Even Mrs. Olesen is outraged at being lied to about her background. Laura then meets with Nancy's classmates and they conspire to teach Nancy a lesson once and for all. They decide to make Nancy the show queen! Well, that's all they tell her ... at first. On the day of the show, Nancy is dressed as a mermaid and thinks she's going to be the darling of the show. That is, until she sees she's sitting just above a water tank; she's been made queen of the dunk tank! After Belinda gets her revenge, Mrs. Olesen wants her turn ... and dunks Nancy! Mrs. Olesen then tells her daughter that she has people who love her and care for her, and she doesn't have to lie to get that sort of attention. |
| Original Air Date—9 October 1981
James begins feeling insecure about his place in the Ingalls family, and tries a little too hard to emulate the older Albert. When he is caught with a shaving blade stolen from the Mercantile, James runs away, leaving Albert to go find him and convince his adopted brother to come back home. |
| Season 8, Episode 4: Dark SageOriginal Air Date—26 October 1981
Dr. Baker is enthusiastic about his new assistant, a young university-trained physician named Caleb LeDoux ... until he realizes he is black. The Ingalls family are among the few to accept Dr. LeDoux, while others' reactions range from prejudice to outright racism. Even Dr. Baker has a tough time concealing his prejudice. Then, a pregnant white woman is suffering from complications and must rely on LeDoux to save her life, but the woman's racist husband refuses to cooperate and Charles must intervene. The surgery is a success and both woman and her baby son are fine; Dr. Baker is stunned and realizes he must deal with his own prejudice ... by going all out to convince Dr. LeDoux to stay when he threatens to leave the community. |
| Original Air Date—2 November 1981
Laura attends a writing seminar in Arizona, but the experience is marred by a rude professor who cuts her down at every turn. |
| Original Air Date—9 November 1981
Aging circus daredevil Gambini the Great has a hypnotic effect on the children of Walnut Grove, especially Albert and Willie. A tragedy during one of Gambini's stunts will provide a chilling lesson in hero worship. |
| Original Air Date—16 November 1981
A pair of bumbling crooks kidnaps Nels and holds him for ransom. However, Mrs. Olesen refuses to pay the $100 fee required to free her husband, so Nels decides to work with the crooks to get his revenge. In the process, nearly everyone in Walnut Grove finds themselves on the wrong side of the criminals. |
| Season 8, Episode 8: ChicagoOriginal Air Date—23 November 1981
Charles travels to Chicago to comfort his grief-stricken friend, Mr. Edwards, after young newspaper reporter John Jr. dies in what seems to be a tragic street car accident. When John's boss reveals that he was about to publish a story about business corruption, Charles and Mr. Edwards become suspicious and soon realize that John Jr. was marked for murder. With the help of the newspaper publisher, they track down who may have wanted to silence John Jr. |
| Original Air Date—30 November 1981
A young, overweight boy named Elmer Miles is mercilessly teased at school. However, Nancy - of all people - goes easy on him because she actually seems to like him. Of course, she has plenty of ulterior motives up her sleeve once she gains Elmer's trust. |
| Original Air Date—7 December 1981
Mrs. Oleson decides that reopening Nellie's Restaurant and Hotel as a franchised restaurant will result in big business for the fledgling business. Does she have what it takes to meet the demands of a tough franchiser, and can she fight off unexpected competition from Charles and Nels when they open up their own restaurant? |
| Original Air Date—21 December 1981
Snowbound on the Ingalls homestead on Christmas eve, Caroline, Laura and Hester Sue share memories of Christmases past. |
| Original Air Date—4 January 1982
James' promising friendship with a young stuttering boy named Gideon Hale is jeopardized when he mocks the boy behind his back. When a devastated Gideon runs away, Caroline assists the boys' parents in a frantic search for the young boy, while Charles and a remorseful James go on a delivery run to Sleepy Eye. A feral wolf that Charles meets along the way will play a key role in this story. |
| Season 8, Episode 13: Stone SoupOriginal Air Date—18 January 1982
A pregnant Laura has a tough time caring for the Wilder farm when Almanzo and Charles are away on a delivery trip to Arizona; a drought and her duties at school doesn't help matters. Later, Laura has a heart-to-heart talk with Willie about responsibility and being a role model. Willie takes the discussion seriously, organizing the classmates to help manage the Wilder farm when Laura falls ill with heatstroke. |
| Season 8, Episode 14: The LegacyOriginal Air Date—25 January 1982
A present-day couple buy an antique, folding-leaf table with a large "I" branded on it and are curious to learn about its origins. The story focuses on Charles' efforts to patent the table and have it mass produced. However, a ruthless businessman is successful in a bid to steal the patent and snare an ill-gotten profit, forcing Charles to realize that his family, and not the tables, are his greatest legacy. |
| Season 8, Episode 15: Uncle JedOriginal Air Date—1 February 1982
Charles and Caroline are about to adopt James and Cassandra, but then Uncle Jed comes forward demanding custody of the Cooper children. |
| Original Air Date—8 February 1982
Hester Sue's ex-husband, Sam, arrives in Walnut Grove, stating that he is reformed from his days of drinking, gambling and wild living. Sam appears to be reformed and Hester Sue believes him enough to agree to re-marry him. Should Hester Sue turn the other cheek and forgive Sam, or is he psychologically controlling his former wife through a very clever series of lies to conceal his current lifestyle? |
| Original Air Date—15 February 1982
The marriage between Almonzo and Laura faces its first stern test when he falls seriously ill with pneumonia and later suffers a crippling stroke. Eliza Jane arrives to help care for her brother, but makes matters worse by babying him. |
| Original Air Date—22 February 1982
Almonzo's continued morose outlook on life during his recovery from a crippling stroke, not to mention Eliza Jane's pampering, takes its toll on the Wilder marriage. Not even the birth of the couple's daughter, Rose, seems to help matters. Then, a massive tornado destroys the Wilder home, and Laura is badly injured; she recovers, but goes into shock when she sees a pile of rubble instead of the slightly damaged home she thought was there. Laura becomes severely depressed, leading Almonzo to finally realize his outlook has rubbed off on his wife; he makes good on a promise to change his attitude 180 degrees and rebuild not only their home but what was a crumbling marriage. In the end, the Wilder marriage becomes stronger for the "Days of Sunshine, Days of Sorrow" they had just went through. |
| Original Air Date—1 March 1982
Mr. Edwards arrives back to Walnut Grove harboring some disturbing secrets, namely that his marriage was ruined because of his alcoholism. His inability to stay off the bottle nearly destroys his cherished friendship with Charles when he causes an accident that nearly kills Albert. Charles tells Mr. Edwards to leave Walnut Grove and not come back, leaving Almanzo and Laura as his last hope. |
| Original Air Date—8 March 1982
Caroline travels to an influenza-ridden mining camp with Dr. Baker after she receives a plea for help from an old friend who is pregnant and desperately ill. After realizing that her friend will die and that the baby's father is unable to care for it, Caroline agrees to uphold her friend's deathbed request to give her child a good home. |
| Original Air Date—3 May 1982
During a trip to Sleepy Eye, James and Albert walk into a bank robbery staged by a nefarious gang. James is critically wounded, and the doctor tells Charles that James is expected to die. A grief-hardened Charles enlists Mr. Edwards (and later, Albert, after he disobeys a direct order to stay in Sleepy Eye) to track down the men responsible. |
| Original Air Date—10 May 1982
James continues to linger in a coma, weeks after being shot during a bank robbery in Sleepy Eye. Charles refuses to believe his son is virtually dead and, as the weeks pass, becomes verbally abusive to his family and friends. Unable to deal with mounting pressure by the others to let James die in peace, Charles leaves home and takes his adopted son with him. In the woods, Charles builds an altar and prays to God for a miracle. |
| Original Air Date—27 September 1982
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| Original Air Date—4 October 1982
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| Original Air Date—11 October 1982
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| Season 9, Episode 4: RageOriginal Air Date—18 October 1982
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| Season 9, Episode 5: Little LouOriginal Air Date—25 October 1982
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| Original Air Date—1 November 1982
Walnut Grove residents try to rescue a boy who's unable to speak after they see him on display at a carnival show. |
| Original Air Date—8 November 1982
Dr. McQueen learns of young Matthew's whereabouts and seeks custody of him so he can use him for his personal gain. |
| Original Air Date—15 November 1982
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| Original Air Date—22 November 1982
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| Season 9, Episode 10: LoveOriginal Air Date—29 November 1982
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| Original Air Date—6 December 1982
Mr. Edwards is suspicious of a young handsome minister sent to Walnut Grove by the diocese and Reverend Alden feels his position is threatened. |
| Original Air Date—3 January 1983
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| Original Air Date—10 January 1983
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| Original Air Date—17 January 1983
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| Original Air Date—24 January 1983
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| Original Air Date—7 February 1983
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| Original Air Date—7 February 1983
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| Original Air Date—14 February 1983
Laura and Almanzo welcome their second child, a baby boy. They are undecided as far as names go, and Doc Baker examines the child to make sure he's in the best of health. But one fateful morning, the Wilders awaken to find their new baby deceased. Right away, a dumbfounded Laura places blame squarely on Doc Baker, whose business starts to wane and he considers leaving Walnut Grove. But, when Rose suddenly comes down with small pox, the good doctor is their only hope. |
| Original Air Date—21 February 1983
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| Original Air Date—7 March 1983
Mr. Edwards is left in care of a baby orangutan named Blanche, whom Mrs. Olesen wants destroyed after it attacks Nancy at school. |
| Original Air Date—14 March 1983
When Willie announces his plans to marry sweetheart Rachel Brown and manage the hotel-restaurant bearing his sister's name, Mrs. Oleson tries to interfere. But Willie impresses his wife-to-be - and his father - when he stands his ground to his meddlesome mother once and for all. |
| Original Air Date—21 March 1983
The father of Matthew Rogers, the mute boy Mr. Edwards has been caring for, arrives to reclaim his son. A heartbroken Edwards moves in to Laura's new boarding house, where newlyweds Willie and Rachel Oleson, and eccentric Englishman Sherwood Montague have also taken up residence. |
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