Laura and Grace Snider both need dates for the annual Spring Dance, but those they have their eyes on seem not to be interested. Caroline shares with them a 'womanly wile' she used on Charles to get his attention, but when Laura and Grace try it the consequences are not what they had hoped for. Then Charles reminds Caroline of what actually happened when she tried it on him, and she changes her advice to Laura and Grace, with a happier outcome.

A widowed mother named Julia Sanderson (Patricia Neal) learns she has a terminal illness and, with no close relatives to care for her three children, John Jr., Carl and Alicia, she gets Charles to promise to find the children a new home after she dies. Meanwhile, Laura and Mary rescue some abandoned puppies, and the relationship between Mr. Edwards and Grace Snider begins to blossom.

After Julia Sanderson's death, her three children stay with Grace, with help from Mr. Edwards. When Charles is unable to find someone to adopt all three children, he has to make the difficult decision to place them in separate homes. At the very last minute, Mr. Edwards makes a monumental decision: he marries Grace - and they take on all three children.

The Olesons get themselves invited onto the Ingalls family campout, after Nellie complains that it will give Laura and Mary an advantage for the school holiday project of leaf-collecting. The two men bond while fishing and their wives try to improve their relationship, but the children continue to clash. However, when Nellie falls into a river, her later false account of what happened brings out the same Mrs. Oleson. Back at the school, the result of the leaves project gives some satisfaction to Laura and Mary.

While fishing in a stream, Laura and a friend stumble upon "gold". They spend several weeks trying to pick up all of the gold. When they bring it to the bank, they learn that it is only fool's gold.

John is a lot more interested in books than farming or hunting. Mr. Edwards tries to make him different and buys him a gun for his birthday.

Laura and Nellie are rivals for the affections of a classmate's heart. The two polar opposites are after Jason, the new kid at school who is into inventions. Both of them have crushes on Jason, but Jason - who is into inventions and electricity - only has feelings for Laura...

Mary is excited when she has the chance to participate in a state-wide math competition. The problem is that Charles can't afford to have her go.

Charles and his girls go on a trip, while Caroline stays home. Just before they leave, she gets a scratch on her leg by a rusty nail. At first, everything seems OK. However, as time progresses, she gets weaker and more ill.

Mary, Laura, and Mr. Edwards' adopted son, Carl, go along with Charles and Mr. Edwards to a train station. The three children wander into the caboose. The caboose then begins to move backwards, going faster and faster. Another train is coming the opposite direction...

When Miss Beadle can no longer handle the older students' bullying, she is fired. Her mean-spirited succecssor immediately clashes with Laura, and unfairly blames her for several incidents in the classroom.

Charles, Mr. Edwards, and two other men take a job that involves handling and transporting explosives. They must deal with many things along the road, including prejudice.

Charles takes a job refinishing woodwork for Thurman in exchange for a nice set of china to give to Caroline. Widow Thurman was a lovely, young lady. To keep his secret, Charles had to lie. After he tells the girls and Caroline different stories, everyone suspects that Charles is having an affair.

The Independence Day celebration in Walnut Grove is threatened when taxes are increased. A Russian immigrant shows the people why America is a great place. Even though the immigrant lost his land since he couldn't pay his taxes, he was happy to be in America. He considered it to be the best place to live in the world.

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.

After a tornado ruins his crop, Charles decides to sell the land and return to the Big Woods of Wisconsin without consulting his family.

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 and her horse, Bunny, are picked to win at the horse race in town. Since Mrs. Oleson doesn't want Laura to win, she buys a great thoroughbred for Nellie to ride.

Carrie, having tagged along on Laura and Mary's classroom assignment, falls down a mine shaft, providing an alcoholic ex-miner a chance at redemption.

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.

Charles' father, Lansford Ingalls, doesn't want to live after his wife dies. Charles brings his father to Walnut Grove to help him out. When Laura's horse gets hurt, she blames her grandpa.

Lansford leaves because he feels really bad. Once Laura realizes that her grandpa wasn't to blame for the accident, she looks for Lansford and convinces him to come back home.

Laura is tricked into taking a ""one of a kind"" billy goat home with her. After Fred eats some of the Ingalls' crops, Laura is forced to get rid of the billy goat. Every person that Laura wanted to give the billy goat to resulted in a funny time. Laura finally decides to set him free in the wild. This episode is guaranteed to make you laugh!

Pa decides to take Laura hunting with him. When Charles and Laura are getting settled down for the night, Laura trips over her dad's gun and sets it off. Charles is badly wounded. Laura runs to get help, but the only person she can find is a blind person, Sam. Since Sam just recently became blind, he knew his way around somewhat. After getting lost a few times, Sam and Laura finally find Mr. Edwards' home. Mr. Edwards gets a doctor, who saves Mr. Ingalls. Thanks to Laura, Sam learned that just because he was blind didn't mean he had to stay at home and do nothing.

The day before Christmas vacation started, Miss Beadle lets the children out early when she notices that a snowstorm is beginning. The children aren't able to make it home before the storm starts. The men of Walnut Grove search for the children while Doc Baker takes care of the frostbitten children that show up at the school.