During their first four years of marriage, Laura and Almanzo Wilder have a child and fight a losing battle in their attempts to succeed at farming on the South Dakota prairie.
Living away from home and teaching school is a bit frightening for fifteen-year-old Laura, since most of the students are taller than she is, but every week Almanzo Wilder arrives to take her to her family for the weekend.
When Albert discovers that he has a terminal illness, he decides to spend the rest of his life in Walnut Grove; baby Rose Wilder is kidnapped by a woman who recently lost her own child; the residents of Walnut Grove deal with the devastating news that their town will be destroyed.