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.

The school children have saved up some money to buy the Reverend a birthday present. They give the money to Mary, who is in charge of buying the present. Laura convinces Mary to buy something that they could sell to people with the hope that they could buy Reverend Alden a better gift. The plan backfires.

The son of Mrs. Whipple returns to Walnut Grove after serving in the Civil War. To forget his painful past, he takes morphine, which he becomes addicted to.

Reverend Alden gets sick while collecting donations. Caleb Hodgekiss, an ex-convict, helps the Reverend by giving him a place to stay and volunteering to get the donations from Walnut Grove. Caleb poses as a friend of the Reverend so that he might get donations which he initially planned to keep for himself.

Laura's imagination runs wild on Halloween when she thinks she sees Nels cut off Mrs Oleson's head. Laura tells Nellie and Willie what she saw. Since the Oleson kids know that their mother is really out of town, they decide to scare Laura a little bit more. Everything is straightened up when Mrs. Oleson comes back.

The school children are allowed to put on plays in groups. Laura and Mary work with Ginny Clark, a student who has no father. Ginny wants her mother to date, but her mother, Della, doesn't believe she looks good enough. Ginny sells her long beautiful hair so she can buy her mother a new dress. Della at first accuses Ginny of stealing money until she sees that her daughter has cut her hair.

Charles must take a delivery to Mankato immediately and is unable to finish the addition to his house. Caroline hires a handsome man, Chris, to finish the house. Mary suspects that her Ma and Chris are falling in love.

Mrs. Oleson's cousin starts a newspaper in Walnut Grove, and she uses the fledgling small-town publication as her forum for gossip. It isn't long before the newspaper creates havoc and embarrassment for the townspeople, leading Charles to take matters into his own hands.

It all starts when a local farmer, who is hateful and bigoted, refuses to set a fair price for wheat, since black farmers would be entitled to the same price. The whole thing escalates when the farmer assaults Andy and is later accused of setting fire to the Garvey's barn.

Mary starts to be able to distinguish light from dark and the Ingalls believe she is regaining her sight. Mary is taken to the specialist only to discover that a brain impulse was causing her to see light when she felt the heat from the sun coming through a window. While Mary is away, Albert and Laura fix up Mr. Edwards' old home. However, the only colors of paint that the mercantile has is pink and purple. Mary returns and talks to Laura in the old Edwards' cabin. Laura tells Mary that her and Albert were building a club house. Mary tells Laura she is glad she can't see the room after Laura tells her what colors they used.

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.

Adam wins a prestigious award. Laura and Albert give the Christmas money they had made from collecting honey, to Adam and Mary to go on a trip to receive the award. The stagecoach is involved in a very serious accident.

Mrs. Craig is in love with Reverend Alden. Although Mrs. Oleson tries to stop Reverend Alden from marrying Mrs. Craig, the wedding goes on as planned.

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.

Albert begins writing more frequently to a pen pal of his. He tries to impress the girl he is writing to. The girl also does the same thing. Albert falls in love with her and goes to see her one time. This girl is very reluctant. Albert thinks that she doesn't like him until he sees her in a wheelchair. Both of them promise to continue writing to each other, but this time they would only tell the truth in their writings.

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.

Almanzo's brother, Royal, leaves his two kids with the Wilders while he and his wife are on vacation. Laura and Almanzo have their hands full taking care of these boys.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.