John-Boy's dean asks him to take care of a 16-year-old genius college student for a weekend. The genius is gifted in all academic areas, but woefully lacking in social graces.
A prize fighter arrives searching for work, living and training in the Waltons' barn. Some are put off by his fighting, but he wants to build a church in the community.
John's 25th high school reunion is being planned, but he is apprehensive about facing his highly successful classmates. John-Boy fears he will never make a living as a writer. Jim-Bob makes a profound comment.
Jason spends too much time playing with a band. His school work, music lessons, and health begin to suffer. Meanwhile, John-Boy gets a part-time job in a library; the librarian wants him to choose it as a profession.
Mary Ellen and Erin both fall for a forestry student (Michael O'Keefe). He is there to study the trees on Walton's Mountain. Erin and the forestry student date.
Marsha, John-Boy's old girlfriend, returns to sell her family home at the urging of her fiance. Wedding plans end when the fiance realizes the home is in debt. Olivia helps a disadvantaged student get glasses.
Cousin Olivia, who married on the mountain in The Shivaree episode, returns to Walton's Mountain following her husband's sudden death. Family cat has kittens and dies giving birth. Elizabeth and Cousin Olivia both have to heal.
King Edward VIII abdicates the throne and the Waltons follow the story. Meanwhile, a movie production team is in town and John-Boy reconnects with a friend who's part of the production crew. John-Boy is offered a job.
The family helps Vera Walton and her husband, Wade, navigate a rough patch in their marriage. She cannot get used to the city and he is too used to it. He has fallen into the criminal element.
Olivia and Elizabeth take a car trip; Jim-Bob is forced to also go. They have car trouble. Elizabeth wanders off. Olivia and Jim-Bob find her but by now, all are lost. Jim-Bob uses his skills to keep everyone safe till they are found.
Jim-Bob wonders if he is adopted because he does not look like other family members. No one wants to talk about his birth, so he investigates and uncovers a long hidden family secret.
Ben starts to hunt animals for their skins to sell for profit. Meanwhile, the Rough Riders are holding a reunion. Grandpa, for all his talk about charging up the hill with Teddy Roosevelt, does not want to attend.
A fire breaks out and burns most of the house. John-Boy loses his completed novel in order to save Erin. As John, Grandpa and John-Boy make repairs, the family must send the younger children to friends and neighbors.
Olivia gets a job in the city as a dressmaker. She enjoys it but soon realizes she misses the family too much. Maude Gormley isn't adjusting well to life in a retirement home and returns to the mountain.
Grandma starts a petition to save the old Whitley house, which Grandpa has been contracted to tear down. John-Boy, as editor, writes to suggest that people salvage parts out of the house. Jason plays piano in a music recital.
