The Christmas holiday is approaching and the members of the Ingalls family go about their holiday shopping in secrecy. Laura is able to buy her mom a stove that she wanted after she sells her horse to Mr. Oleson.

Dr. Baker and Harriet's niece, Kate, fall in love with each other. Then their age difference becomes an issue.

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.

Joseph Stokes is the son of a Sioux Indian who moves to Walnut Grove with his widowed mother. They stay with his grandpa, Jeremy. Jeremy doesn't like Joseph because he is embarrassed that his daughter married an Indian. At school, Joseph is being bullied. Jeremy finally accepts Joseph when he sees his grandson face the bullies

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.

The Ingallses and Olesons take a trip to the fair. Patrick, a carnival worker and Mary's boyfriend, and his boss, Cass (a balloonist and suave ladies man) vie for Mary's attention; Charles and Nels entering a jackass riding contest; and Carrie has her own adventure.

Mr. Ingalls is severely delayed when a wheel breaks on his wagon in the pouring rain. This is the day of Charles and Caroline's wedding anniversary. Everything had been all prepared and set up for that day. When Charles doesn't show up in time, Caroline tells the children how hard it was to get Charles to notice her and how many heartbreaks she had before she finally knew that Charles loved her.

Mrs. Olesen may finally get to drive those ""homely"" Ingalls from Walnut Grove for good when the family gets an inheritance from a wealthy relative. Against their better judgement, Charles spends the money on farm equipment and other things before finding out he used worthless Confederate funds to make the purchases.

Nels' brother sends his 12-year-old son to Walnut Grove after repeated conflicts at home and school. When Mrs. Oleson interferes in her husband's plans to rehabilitate his nephew, Nels asks Charles to step in and teach the boy some values.

Adam finally asks Mary to marry him. She begins having second thoughts when her parents starting talking about being grandchildren and how hard it was to keep track of Mary when she was little. Mary begins to wonder if she could take care of a child. A blind child gets caught in a dust storm and is found by Mary and Adam. After this, Mary realizes that she has nothing to worry about. They get married by Reverend Alden.

Andy Garvey's mother is embarrassed by her son's performance at school. She hires Nellie Oleson to tutor him. Nellie reveals to Andy how she gets such good grades. Nellie makes Andy keep the secret of Nellie cheating. Andy eventually admits what he has been doing and his mother makes sure that Nellie isn't able to cheat on the next test.

After a boy is in an accident, he pretends to be blind to keep his parents from getting divorced. Laura discovers that the boy isn't blind, but doesn't tell his parents because the boy pleads with her not to. The boy is involved in another accident and has a concussion. The concussion causes him to not remember his pretending to be blind.

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.