Seasons & episodes
S7 · E14The Nephews 1981-01-19 · 49 min
Almanzo's brother, Royal, leaves his two kids with the Wilders while he and his wife are on vacation. Laura and Almanzo have their hands full taking care of these boys.
S7 · E15Make a Joyful Noise 1981-01-26 · 49 min
Joe Hagen moves to Sleepy Eye to help at the blind school. He begins to fall in love with Hester Sue. However, she is planning to marry someone that has a more promising future. One day Hester Sue hears Joe comforting one of the blind students. Hearing this makes her decide not to marry the other person.
S7 · E16Goodbye, Mrs. Wilder 1981-02-02 · 49 min
Mrs. Oleson wants Laura to add several courses to her school curriculum, including art appreciation and French. Since Laura believes that the kids don't need to know these subjects, she quits. Mrs. Oleson is the person who takes over as teacher.
S7 · E17Sylvia (1) 1981-02-09 · 49 min
A schoolyard escapade involving Albert brands 15-year-old girl Sylvia a tease. The two fall in love, but Albert is unaware of a number of circumstances which have thrown Sylvia's life into a frightening tailspin - getting raped by an unknown assailant and the girl's domineering father.
S7 · E18Sylvia (2) 1981-02-16 · 49 min
A pregnant Sylvia finds Albert is the only one she can turn to for solace, since her father blames her for her situation. Albert and Sylvia decide they want to elope so she doesn't have to move with her father, over both their parents' objections.
S7 · E19Blind Justice 1981-02-23 · 49 min
Adam and Mary move back to Walnut Grove so that Adam can start a law practice there. Adam's first case involves a person who has been swindling people in Walnut Grove. Adam believes the person is innocent until he finds out the truth. Adam convinces the jury to have pity on this man who was just trying to help out his family before he dies.
S7 · E20I Do, Again 1981-03-02 · 49 min
Caroline is crushed when she learns she is no longer able to carry a baby, and fabricates a pregnancy to deal with the pain.
S7 · E21The Lost Ones (1) 1981-05-04 · 49 min
Charles and Albert travel with the Cooper family while on a delivery. A serious accident occurs while the Coopers are going down a steep hill. The Cooper parents are killed. Charles tries to find Cassandra and James a new home. When he can't find anyone to take them both in, he feels he has to send them to an orphanage. After thinking about this idea some more, Charles decides to take care of the kids himself for a short period.
S7 · E22The Lost Ones (2) 1981-05-11 · 49 min
Reverend Alden eventually finds someone to take in the kids. However, this family just wants them to work. When Cassandra and James run away, their adoptive father doesn't even go to look for them. When Charles finds the kids, he tells them that he will adopt them if they could stand the house being more crowded. They happily agree to stay with the Ingalls.
S8 · E1The Reincarnation of Nellie (1) 1981-10-05 · 49 min
Percival and Nellie go to New York so that Percival can run the family business now that his father has died. Mrs. Oleson gets very depressed because of Nellie leaving. The Olesons decide to adopt a girl to take the place of Nellie. While they are in Sleepy Eye, they find a girl that looks almost exactly like Nellie when she was young.
S8 · E2The Reincarnation of Nellie (2) 1981-10-12 · 49 min
Nancy turns out to be worse than Nellie ever was. She even locks another girl in the ice house. The students devise a plan to teach Nancy a lesson. They trick her into being the star in a dunking tank. Also during this episode, Adam and Mary move to New York so that they can earn a living and Hester Sue comes to Walnut Grove to work at the restaurant.
S8 · E3Growin' Pains 1981-10-19 · 49 min
James is trying to be more like Albert. He even wants to shave like Albert has to. While James is shaving, he breaks Albert's razor. James steals a razor from the mercantile hoping Albert wouldn't notice the difference. When the truth is found out about the razor, James runs away. Albert takes off after him. When Albert finds James, it takes a lot of convincing before James decides to come back home with him.
S8 · E4Dark Sage 1981-10-26 · 49 min
Dr. Baker posts an ad for another doctor, to relieve his workload (and Mrs. Oleson's constant pestering). He hires Dr. Caleb Ledoux, but doesn't count on him being black. The Ingalls are among the very few to accept Dr. Ledoux, as others are outright hateful and racist. Even Dr. Baker struggles with his prejudice and, to show his spite, gives the young doctor minor cases. In the end, Dr. Ledoux is the only doctor available to call on a pregnant woman who is having labor complications. The woman's husband won't allow the doctor in the house (because he's black), and can only get to her when Charles knocks the man aside. Ledoux performs a successful surgery and delivers a son to the couple. A stunned and shaken Dr. Baker witnesses the surgery and concedes that only Caleb's and his superior training could have saved the woman's life. Dr. Ledoux later angrily tells his wife he plans to leave Walnut Grove. But only Dr. Baker's emotional speech at church convinces the good doctor to stay.
S8 · E5A Wiser Heart 1981-11-02 · 49 min
Laura goes to visit Eliza Jane because of a literature seminar that is going on in town. Laura has to find a part-time job to pay for meals and other stuff. She ends up hating the job. There is a person who Laura met on the train who begins to like Eliza Jane. Eliza Jane in turn begins to like the professor teaching the seminar and the professor likes Laura. The professor tells Laura that her writing is bad when Laura tells him she is happily married. The man on the train eventually defends Laura's writing. It only takes one punch by the man to get the professor to take off and leave.
S8 · E6Gambini, the Great 1981-11-09 · 49 min
In an episode about hero worship, Charles and Nels share deep concerns over an aging circus performer's influence on the children of Walnut Grove. Particularly since some of them - Albert and Willie in particular - have tried some of the daredevil's more dangerous stunts, with mixed results.
S8 · E7The Legend of Black Jake 1981-11-16 · 49 min
Nels is kidnapped by two crooks. The crooks try to get Mrs. Oleson to pay ransom for her husband, but she refuses to. This makes Mr. Oleson upset and causes him to help the crooks. The kidnappers aren't very lucky. After kidnapping several different people, the crooks decide that they need to try another line of work. They leave without hurting any of the kidnapped people.
S8 · E8Chicago 1981-11-23 · 49 min
Charles travels to Chicago to comfort a deeply grieving Mr. Edwards, whose son John Jr. had died in a tragic accident. But that grief soon gives way to rage when it becomes apparent John Jr.'s death was no accident. Charles and Mr. Edwards enlist the aid of the editor of the newspaper where John Jr. worked to uncover the truth.
S8 · E9For the Love of Nancy 1981-11-30 · 49 min
An overweight boy comes to school at Walnut Grove. The schoolkids pick on him because he is so heavy. Nancy persuades the boy to bully the other school children. The jokes of the school children get so bad that the obese boy decides to quit school. The school children then decide that enough is enough. They go over and apologize to him.
S8 · E10Wave of the Future 1981-12-07 · 49 min
Mrs. Oleson changes the restaurant into a franchise restaurant, She has a hard time living up to the agreement of the franchise. Charles and Nels get together and decide to open up a restaurant of their own, right across the street. The new restaurant forces Mrs. Oleson's restaurant out of business. The town is now back to normal, or at least as normal as it can be.
S8 · E11A Christmas They Never Forgot 1981-12-21 · 49 min
Mary, Adam, Hester Sue, the Wilders, and the Ingalls are all together for Christmas. The snow begins falling and soon they are snowed in by a blizzard. To pass time, several of them tell stories. Laura talks about the Christmas in Kansas when Mr. Edwards came.
S8 · E12No Beast So Fierce 1982-01-04 · 49 min
James makes friends with Gideon Hale, a young boy who stutters. However, the budding friendship is damaged when Gideon overhears James making fun of him. A wolf that follows James and Charles on a delivery trip may hold the key for bringing Gideon out of his shell.
S8 · E13Stone Soup 1982-01-18 · 49 min
Laura finds that balancing her teaching duties at school and managing Almonzo's orchard, while he and Charles are gone on a delivery trip to Arizona, too much to handle. Her heart-to-heart talk with a maturing Willie may hold the key to both their futures.
S8 · E14The Legacy 1982-01-24 · 49 min
Charles beings making tables so that he could pass on a legacy. While he is at this, Albert begins taking care of the farm. Charles gets very upset when someone steals his design and starts producing the tables in large quantities. Charles soon realizes that memories of his family is a lot more important.
S8 · E15Uncle Jed 1982-01-31 · 49 min
An elderly relative of James and Cassandra tries to get custody away from Charles. He ends up being unsuccessful in the lawsuit, which means that Charles kept custody of the children.