In World War II England, orphaned siblings William, Edmund, and Anna are evacuated from London to live in the countryside, where they bounce from home to home in search of someone willing to adopt them permanently.
Through tests, tears, and triumphs as a fire drives the Waltons from their home, John-Boy becomes a scriptwriter, Mary Ellen applies to nursing school, and Jim-Bob discovers a fact about his birth, all while Hitler and Mussolini threaten the world.