The Waltons - Episode Guide

On Christmas Eve 1933, the Waltons prepare for the holiday, but they are becoming increasingly worried because John Walton, who was forced to take work in another part of the state, has not yet returned home. Olivia, the stern, strong willed mother sends her eldest son out on a mission to find his whereabouts. John-Boy checks at the usually spots where John might be found, the pool hall at Godsey's General Store and the Baldwin sisters who are known to make home made moonshine. John-Boy experiences a variety of challenges and meets an assortment of colorful characters in his community but returns home without accomplishing his mission. When hope of his return is all but lost John Walton bursts through the door with a bag full of presents and a tale to tell.

Pilot movie for "The Waltons" series.

The Waltons shelter a deaf girl left on their porch by her mother because her father insists on institutionalizing her. While they search for her family, they start teaching her sign language, which she uses to help Elizabeth when an emergency arises.

A traveling carnival comes to Walton's Mountain, but the children choose to sacrifice the money they had saved for it so that Grandma can replace her broken glasses. When the troupe becomes stranded by their dishonest ringmaster, John and Olivia allow them to stay in their barn, and the family is rewarded with a private show.

The Waltons' cow gives birth to a bull calf, which John decides must be sold for truck repair money, much to his children's disappointment. John buys the calf back after he learns the buyer plans to butcher rather than breed it.

John-Boy is anxious to prove himself on a turkey hunt with his father and two friends but finds he can't shoot a turkey, which he equates with premeditated murder. However, he has no trouble killing a bear when it attacks his father.

When John Boy learns that his stories need to be typed in order to be submitted to the various magazines to be published, he turns to the Baldwin sisters to see if he could borrow their father's antique typewriter. He then hides it out in the shed, where Mary Ellen soon finds it and accidentally sells it to the local junk man. After finding out what happened, they try to track it down before telling the sisters what happened.

A meteorite crashes through the roof of the Baldwin sisters' "Recipe" room, which they take as some kind of sign from their dead Papa. Grandpa takes it as a sign of his impending death; Ben takes it as a sign he will win the fourth grade spelling bee. Cousin Polonius Baldwin at first plans to exploit the meteorite for financial gain, then tries to steal their "Recipe machine".

A young preacher comes to Walton's Mountain fresh from seminary, where he has learned the currently popular fire and brimstone style of preaching. He happens to be a Baldwin relative, and after a visit, succumbs to the effects of their "Recipe". His tee-totaler church superior fires him, but after he humbly apologizes to John-Boy for his hypocrisy, Grandpa and John convince the congregation to look at the forgiving side of the gospel and accept him.

A troubled teenager from Hell's Kitchen, Manhattan, whose father was murdered by a gangster, runs away from the Civilian Conservation Corps to Walton's Mountain. The Waltons take him in and teach him that he can trust some people, and he doesn't have to fight for everything he gets.

A Jewish family moves to the mountain, looking to escape the persecution that forced them out of Germany. Wanting to maintain a low profile, Professor Mann tells his family that they will not practice their faith, much to the dismay of his son Paul, who was looking forward to celebrating his upcoming bar mitzvah.

John's World War I buddy visits. After he accidentally sets off a grass fire, for which Jason is blamed, and wounds the family dog on a hunting trip, John discovers his friend has not been able to put away the horrors of the war and continue with his life.

When John-Boy meets a writer passing through Walton's Mountain, he impulsively asks him to come home to meet his family. Staying a few days and helping in the mill for his room and board, the writer fills John-Boy's head with tales of travels and stories about famous authors he has known. When John-Boy's interest in these tales causes him to shirk his duties at the mill, he begins to question whether he should abandon his own writing aspirations and concentrate on his duty to his family.

John's cousin, her husband and children seek refuge in Walton's Mountain after losing their Kansas farm to the Dust Bowl, but her husband has developed a bad attitude toward misfortune. He has taught their son that the world owes them something. They shoplift from Godsey's store, and stay longer than expected. The son makes advances to Mary Ellen and fights with John-Boy before their departure.

The Baldwin sisters plan to hold a family reunion when their cousin Homer visits, but Homer runs off with their batch of over 100 jars of the "Recipe" intended for the reunion, planning to sell it in Charlottesville. Then, all of their invitations are returned because the intended recipients are either dead or moved away. The Waltons make up for the failed reunion with a family visit to cheer the disappointed sisters.

The Waltons have a contract to pick an apple orchard, but Mary Ellen shirks it to listen to a traveling musician who convinces her that her dreams are more important than her responsibilities.

Famous stage and screen actress Alvira Drummond is invited to stay at the Walton home after her car breaks down in Walton's Mountain. Contrary to the front she puts up; she is out of work and money after her agent, tired of dealing with her "prima donna" attitude. After she learns a humbling lesson, the Waltons help her regain her confidence, then organize a town performance to help her raise money for a train ticket back to New York.

A young girl's father objects to Miss Hunter's teaching Evolution. During a drunken rage he burns down the school and is killed in the fire.

Jenny Pendleton runs away from her father and stepmother, back to her deserted house on Walton's Mountain. Jenny and John-Boy meet and fall deeply in love, but she is soon traumatized by her father's sudden accidental death and ultimately moves away with the stepmother.

Olivia's uncle Cody visits from Cincinnati. He is a bachelor and a bank accountant, near retirement but put out of work by the bank closings. They attempt to cheer him up by introducing him to a lively, spirited local widow, who charms him and he begins to court her. He is discouraged after learning of her four marriages (two divorces and two deaths), but when he hears good news about the banks, he finally resolves to ask her to marry him.

A gypsy family is stranded by a broken wagon during a thunderstorm and break into the temporarily unoccupied Baldwin house for shelter. Despite hostility from others in the community, the Waltons allow them to camp on their property while Grandma tends their sick baby.

When a lumber company tries to claim the Mountain, the family discovers that their ancestors never filed for legal title to their land. They must raise $200 to obtain the deed, and the entire family tries to chip in. Against his father's wishes, John-Boy decides to take time off from school to work in Wheeling. 

When Verdie Grant learns her daughter is graduating from college, she feels embarrassed by the fact that she never learned to read or write. She asks John-Boy to teach her, on the condition that he keeps it a secret.

Local blacksmith Curtis Norton has John-Boy write letters to his prospective bride. When she arrives on Walton's Mountain, life and Curtis are much different than she expected. Meanwhile, Olivia is feeling new pangs for freedom and something "different" in her life.

John-Boy's friend Sarah sees him as a way to escape her "trapped" life with her demanding mother. When John-Boy rejects her advances, she runs off and plans to elope with a townie.

The entire family suffers a crisis when Olivia is stricken with polio. Dr. Vance prescribes the accepted treatment, but Olivia does not get better. John-Boy learns of a new treatment practiced by Sister Kenny and the family tries it to heal Olivia in time for the Easter service.

An elderly widowed neighbor in failing health asks John-Boy to take her to Virginia Beach, but he has plans to take a girl to a dance. He finally breaks his date and takes Mrs. MacKenzie to the shore, where she relives memories of her honeymoon and arrival from Scotland.

Needing some alone time, John-Boy hikes up the mountain to a deserted cabin and finds his friend Sarah Jane Simmons hiding, nine months pregnant. Her mother had placed her with a well-to-do family on the promise they would educate her. But they were only interested in using her as a servant, so she ran away and married a young man who went looking for work with the Works Progress Administration. A rainstorm strands John-Boy and Sarah, and he must deliver the baby.

When Grandpa spends the day with the Baldwin Sisters in order to make some money, he neglects to let anyone know where he is, causing Grandma and the rest of the family worry. Too proud to explain his absence to his wife, she jumps to the conclusion he was off enjoying himself, and orders him onto the couch. Grandpa packs up and leaves, feeling that at his age he doesn't need permission to spend his time as he sees fit. A local dance is the catalyst to reunite the sparring elders.

After doing some repairs at a neighbor's home, John is accused of stealing and selling some antique silver mugs. The fact that he was able to buy new tires for the truck doesn't make things any better for him. But John's pride is hurt and he is angry that his integrity is questioned, so he refuses to explain how he was able to buy tires when he had no money the day before the robbery. John-Boy and Ben do some sleuthing to clear their father's name.

An itinerant worker and his young son stay with the Waltons, causing the son to want his father to give up life on the road.

While delivering a load of fence posts to a neighbor, John-Boy spots someone he knows stealing a couple of chickens. He keeps the fact to himself and confronts the thief, who agrees to return the fowl. But when the sheriff tells the Waltons that the neighbor was shot by a chicken thief, John-Boy regrets keeping his knowledge to himself, even though he is sure the thief he saw is not capable of shooting anyone. Meanwhile Ben has a crisis of conscience of his own when he wins a poetry contest with something he feel he stole from John-Boy.

With the upcoming fair approaching, Olivia is baking her cake with special icing, Ben is preparing his pet hog for a greased pig catch, and Grandma is finishing a quilt for entry. An old beau of Olivia's, Oscar, is running for political office in Richmond, and plans to make a speech at the fair. Oscar's visit and thoughts about what her life would have been like had she married him make Olivia all the more certain that her life is a good one.

Raised in a local home for orphaned boys, Hobie Shanks couldn't wait to leave the county as soon as he was old enough. But he had pleasant memories of the times he spent with the Waltons. Hobie returns for a visit, and his boasts of being scouted by a major league baseball team thrill almost all the Waltons (and the rest of the community.) Hobie resists the Waltons' pushing him to visit the orphanage where some of the young boys there would see a hopeful future in him, so John-Boy suggests organizing a baseball game with the boys.

While picking berries Erin comes across a fawn without its mother and decides to take it home. Naturally the adults insist she return the creature to the wild, and the local game warden agrees. Meanwhile John-Boy seeks to be the rent collector for a miserly landlord, and learns a lesson by doing so (and he teaches one, too).

One particular Thanksgiving sees John Boy primping because Jenny is returning for the holiday. But an accident in the lumber mill throws a pall over the normally happy holiday as one member of the Waltons winds up in the hospital with a serious injury. Meanwhile the preparations for the big meal continue as Ben gets his chance to bring home the turkey for the first time; and Mary Ellen prepares to star in the school play as Pocahontas.

When Miss Hunter is called away unexpectedly, a substitute teacher with ways of her own takes over.

Grandma finds out she has inherited $250 and decides to share her wealth. Mary Ellen experiments with being a blond and uses Jim-Bob as a test case.

One of Olivia's new pleasures is watching the regular passage overhead of the airplane carrying mail between Washington D.C. and Atlanta. When engine trouble causes the pilot to land in the Walton's meadow, the family puts the pilot up while repairs are being made. Meanwhile the family is busy with plans for Olivia's upcoming birthday, which is causing her to question whether she has really achieved anything during her life.

Working extra at night with Miss Hunter to prepare an essay for a contest, John-Boy allows a school boy crush to become something deeper. But when Reverend Fordwick makes his intentions towards her known, John-Boy becomes jealous and wants to scrap the idea of the essay altogether until Miss Hunter realizes what's been going on and counsels him to persevere.

Growing pains cause havoc on Walton's Mountain. Grandma's upset as her 68th birthday approaches, qualifying her for an "Old Age" pension, and she frustrates everyone by refusing to seek help for dizziness and a hearing problem. John-Boy craves private, quiet space for an office in an attached cabin, but Mary Ellen is told she can use the space as her bedroom. A visiting college boy Mary Ellen encounters at the lake plunges her into confusion when he kisses her, despite being several years older.

Needing a change from the everyday routine, Olivia vents her frustrations one day. To make it up to her John proposes that they take the honeymoon trip they never had and spend a few days at the beach. Since Grandma already had a previous commitment, it is left up to Grandpa to supervise the children while Olivia and John are away.

When an agent for a company which wants to build a resort on Walton's Mountain offers John more money than he ever dreamed of, he is tempted to accept. The hot springs makes the area desirable for a spa, and John knows that his children's futures would be secure if he decides to uproot everyone and sell out.

Jason gets a lesson in life and death when his friend Seth is diagnosed with Leukemia and is given a short time to live. Jason then promises Seth that he learn to play the recorder that he is making his friend.

Olivia finds out she is pregnant and the children set out to make her and the baby a variety of presents. Elizabeth is jealous because she thinks because she is the youngest that her Mom will not love her the same way or will never have any more time for her. 

Curtis and Ann are unhappy to learn that they are unable to have children of their own. However, an orphan boy visiting with the Waltons shows them that they can still have a family by adopting him.

Strange things are occurring at the Walton homestead. The kids use a Ouija board to ask questions about future events. A small boy staying with the family is to leave soon to meet his father, but events don't turn out as expected.

John-Boy gets ready to graduate from high school in a new suit. When the cow dies John-Boy returns the suit and gets his money back and uses the money to buy another cow. John-Boy graduates in Grandpa's old suit.

A traveling salesman talks Olivia into buying a 5 foot collection of books called The Harvard Classics. He then uses the down payment to buy his daughter a doll.

John-Boy looks to buy a car he will need to get to college. On a tip, he offers to repair the storm damage to the home of a reclusive couple in exchange for the beautiful car they keep in their garage. The man grudgingly accepts but proves unwilling to part with the car because it belonged to his son, who is dead. After his wife threatens to leave him, and John-Boy gets him to talk about his son, he relents.

Grandpa's sister-in-law and her family are being forced out of their home by the construction of The Blue Ridge Parkway. The Waltons go to their land to help defend the homestead. John-Boy is torn between his ideals and the family loyalty.

Everything seems to go wrong on John-Boy's first day at Boatwright University -- though he makes some new friends, he also leaves an important document at home, and becomes the butt of a cruel practical joke. He also learns about the difficulties of fitting into college life as a freshman beset by upperclassmen determined to make his life miserable. In the meantime, back at the Waltons' Mountain School, Jason hesitantly tries to fill John-Boy's shoes as the eldest of the remaining six Walton children.

John-Boy enters his mule, Blue, in a local race in which Grandpa was the last Walton to win. He finds himself in competition with one of his wealthy classmates, who not only enters a thoroughbred horse but also competes with him for the attention of a female student, Selina, the granddaughter of the race's sponsor. 

When the class guinea pig dies in his care, Jim-Bob can't get anyone to listen to his distress, so he runs away. John-Boy misses a lecture by a famous travel writer to help look for him, but a chance encounter puts a positive spin on the day for them.

John-Boy teaches Olivia to drive so she can fulfill a dream by taking an evening art class at college. She finds herself in a dilemma when young male teacher Joshua Williams becomes romantically attracted to her and makes advances during the class's field trip to a museum. He later comes to their home to apologize to her and John. Mary Ellen says she wants to be a nurse.

Mary Ellen is invited to a Boatwright dance by one of John-Boy's classmates. She buys a handbag from the local junk dealer and finds an amethyst ring inside it. Even though she knows who the handbag's owner is, she rationalizes borrowing the ring for the dance and returning it later. 

John-Boy tutors a football player for an important exam as he is at risk of losing his athletic scholarship. During the exam, John-Boy notices him glancing at his neighbor's test paper. The school's honor code and his good conscience demand that John-Boy, reluctantly, turn him in, but he successfully defends his friend against expulsion. Jason catches Ben smoking cigarettes and tells Grandpa, who sets out to teach Ben a lesson about the bad habit.

After losing money in the financial crash, the well to do and snobby Hanover family from New York City move to Walton's Mountain to take over their abandoned ancestral home. John and Olivia try to teach the idealistic Mr. Hanover and his wife farm living skills, but the spoiled and fresh children quickly make enemies with the Waltons and their friends. 

On a whim, John-Boy decides to enter a 7-day dance marathon after meeting Daisy, a young woman who also enters. Olivia is angry about him entering such a grueling event but eventually comes to terms with the fact that he is becoming an adult, responsible for taking care of himself. 

The publication of John Boy's book of short stories gives John-Boy a swelled head and overshadows Jason's debut as a musician. 

John-Boy gets a job reading to a young blind woman. The woman is hostile towards him and the world in general. She goes to Walton's Mountain and realizes she has much more for which to be thankful.

It's John's turn to become restless, deciding to take a job in a machine shop in Norfolk, 90 miles away, planning to return on weekends. This frustrates Olivia, and his absence is felt by the entire family, including John-Boy, who is encountering some academic problems at Boatwright. 

A neighbor who moved away five years earlier returns to his abandoned house, saying his wife will be coming soon. The Walton women and a friend clean up the house in anticipation of her return. But then the man's son arrives with the news that his mother died two years ago, and his father has not accepted this. Also, Elizabeth has an imaginary friend.

When Grandpa has a heart attack and becomes depressed not long before his birthday, his family and friends set out to lift his spirits and restore his will to live.

Ben borrows John-Boy's car to take his girlfriend Nancy to a secret meeting with her mother, who left home several years ago. Nancy swears Ben to secrecy because she is afraid of her embittered father finding out. The good deed gets Ben into serious trouble when a joyrider temporarily steals the car and has a hit-and-run, and the victim records the license number. 

Following the death of her mother, John's cousin Corabeth arrives on the mountain to visit family. It doesn't take long for Ike to fall in love, resulting in John working on setting the pair up. Meanwhile, John-Boy arranges to have Erin's picture taken after she shares how left out she feels being a middle child.

John-Boy encounters a sassy but unprincipled girl whose selfish ways cause hard feelings and suspicion toward Danny, Jim-Bob's friend.

Grandpa and Grandma feel cut off and disrespected by the family and decide to move away to be caretakers of another farmhouse. Without Grandpa, John is forced to hire a millhand, who proves clumsy and incompetent. After the grandparents encounter problems with the malfunctioning cookstove, radio, clock, sink, and lacking transportation, Grandpa finally swallows his pride. He agrees that they can move back, to the relief of the family.

Wedding plans for the daughter of a friend go awry when the mountain custom of kidnapping the groom gets out of hand.

John wants to expand the mill and call it Walton and Sons, but Jason wants to study music. He tries to get a scholarship. John-Boy is told he should write a novel.

Grandpa wins first prize in the church raffle: a statue of a young woman, donated by the Baldwins. The statue is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem Annabel Lee, but bears a resemblance to Grandpa's old girlfriend. Grandma recognizes it, which causes strife. One of John-Boy's stories, a thinly veiled and somewhat unflattering portrayal of the Baldwins, has been accepted for publication. Still, he must decide if publishing it would be worth the hurt it would cause to Mamie and Emily.

Sally Ann Harper has eyes for Jason but Ben falls in love with her. Grandpa and John enter a billiard competition at Ike's store.

John and Olivia make plans for their 20th wedding anniversary, John-Boy falls in love with an older woman and decides to leave the mountain with her.

Things are looking up on the mountain, and the Waltons take a $500 bank loan to buy faster mill equipment. When Grandpa and then John fall ill, the family faces missed deadlines and may lose their home. John-Boy pushes himself and everyone else too hard, trying to keep up. Eventually, he and Jason decide they must give up their dreams of college to work and help the family until the community comes to their aid.

Reverend Fordwick asks John-Boy to deliver the Sunday sermon and Miss Hunter asks Olivia to act as the substitute teacher. It proves to be an interesting experience for both as Reverend Fordwick and Miss Hunter plan their wedding and honeymoon.

John-Boy's Dean asks him to take care of a 16 year old genius college student for the weekend. It seems that Lyle is wonderful with science and math, but woefully lacking when it comes to dealing with people.

Young prize fighter James Travis Clark from Richmond arrives on Walton's Mountain looking for work. He lives in the Walton's barn while training for his next fight. Grandma and Olivia are upset with the whole idea until they find out that James is a minister.

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.

A reporter from New York comes to get material for a guide book on Virginia. John-Boy takes him to see the Baldwin sisters who allow him to look through the late Judge Baldwin's private papers. These reveal that their father was accused of treason for harboring Yankee soldiers during the Civil War. Deeply shocked and hurt, they decide not to leave their house ever again.

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.

John-Boy and Jim-Bob fall in love with a visiting wing walker who is hiding a dark secret.

Mary Ellen and Erin fall in love with a forestry student staying and working at their house, who kisses Erin before deciding she is too young and he had better move on, breaking her heart. Olivia decides that she wants another child, but the doctor advises against another pregnancy. He arranges, however, for the family to care for an orphaned baby girl temporarily until the would be adoptive parents are ready. 

John-Boy's old girlfriend returns to sell her family home at the urging of her fiancé. Wedding plans end when the fiancé realizes the home is in debt. Olivia helps a disadvantaged student get glasses.

Following the death of her husband, Cousin Olivia visits the family, looking for a way to grieve her unexpected loss. When Elizabeth's cat dies while delivering a litter of kittens not long after Olivia's arrival, the two young women turn to one another deal with their grief.

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. 

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.

Mary Ellen leaves home for the weekend to take her entrance exam for nursing school. Unfortunately, she finds she's not properly prepared. The county nurse offers to tutor her in the algebra and chemistry she needs to pass the test in exchange for caring for a sick mother and her children. 

Ben gets angry and leaves home at the same time Grandpa and John enter a competition with another lumber mill for the big contract. Without knowing, Ben goes to work for the other firm. Grandpa devises a clever scheme to get their lumber to market first.

Olivia takes Jim-Bob and Elizabeth on a trip to visit family, but along the way their tire blows out, they get lost in the woods and stumble upon a moonshiner cabin. Out of fear of being caught by authorities, the moonshiners take Olivia and the kids further into the woods and leave them stranded. Meanwhile the Walton men start a search party to find the missing family members who must survive in the woods overnight during a storm.

When Jim Bob starts to wonder if he was adopted by the family because of how everyone is making fun of his interests, he soon learns the truth surrounding his birth when he starts investigating what happened when he was born. John-Boy, although overwhelmed with college assignments, feels obligated to write local history articles for Mrs. Breckenridge of the historical society, who had given Jason a music scholarship.

Ben plans on going into the fur business when a fox starts nosing around the farm. Meanwhile, Grandpa doesn't seem to want to go to the Spanish American War veterans' reunion, even though he talks so much about his charge up San Juan Hill.

John-Boy is working hard on his novel. But when a fire ravages the Walton house, he is stuck with just a few pieces of charred paper, and his family stuck without a home. Olivia reluctantly agrees to let the children stay with friends until the house is rebuilt. But she starts to see changes in them that she doesn't like, especially in little Elizabeth, who becomes more and more withdrawn. And all the while, John-Boy's guilt about the fire prevents him from beginning his novel again.

While John and Olivia are away for business, John-Boy befriends a young girl who is alone; he takes her home to the family and she cons her way into their good graces, except for Grandfather who suspects she's hiding something; as the girl cons more people it eventually catches up with her and John-Boy learns the truth.

When a piece of mill equipment breaks and there's no money for John to fix it, Olivia decides to take a part time job as a dressmaker to help pay the bills. When her designs are a hit with the wealthy women in town and she is given the opportunity to work full time, Olivia is thrilled at the prospect. However, it doesn't take long for her to start missing all the time she's missing to spend with her family and ultimately has to make a decision of what she wants to do. Meanwhile, Maude Gormley, a neighbor of the Walton's, is less than thrilled when her son made a decision for her to move into a retirement home without consulting her first.

Now that Mary Ellen is 17, Grandma takes it upon herself to keep the mountain tradition alive by hosting a quilting for her. As a result, Mary Ellen and Grandma stubbornly butt heads because Mary Ellen doesn't want to partake in the custom. John Boy soon makes her see how selfish she's been acting and gets her to participate in it.

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.

When John-Boy is presented with the opportunity to buy a printing press and run his own newspaper, he comes up with a plan that requires him to get a full time job to earn the money to buy the press while still attending school; he finds a job close to school and, to the disappointment of his family, decides to move out of the Walton home to help save time which he stretches thin in his effort to make a dream come true.

Selena Linville comes back to Walton's Mountain and lights a fire under John-Boy to go to Spain and write all about the rebel cause. Elizabeth is jealous of another schoolgirl who has fancier possessions.

John-Boy's integrity is tested when he seeks to publish the truth about a local judge's driving mishap and his brother Ben's arrest, which in turn tests Olivia's patience with John-Boy's newspaper enterprise; meanwhile Ike and Corabeth's marriage is tested when she experiences a false pregnancy.

When Grandma has a sudden illness Mary Ellen offers a diagnosis based on the symptoms, but when Grandma gets worse and is rushed to the hospital in an emergency Mary Ellen learns a harsh lesson from the doctors and a tender lesson from Grandma; meanwhile, Erin gets a job as a phone operator and abandons her post during the family emergency, and John-Boy focuses on his newspaper editorial about the local doctor who is looking to leave the area due to patients not paying their bills.

After losing his scholarship, Jason gets a job at the Dew Drop Inn, playing music at night to pay his tuition. He then gets an idea to visit the parents of his late friend Seth, in order to talk Red into getting back on stage for a benefit show. Meanwhile, after spending some time with the Walton family, Yancy Tucker works up the nerve to propose to his girlfriend, a barmaid at the Dew Drop.

A famous evangelist is coming to town, and Olivia and Esther hope John and Ben will be converted and baptized. Jim-Bob finds a peacock and names him Rover.

John-Boy tries to keep the community updated about the news in Europe, so he decides to print excerpts about Hitler's "Mein Kampf" in his paper. A great outcry ensues, and the town is torn apart over the issue of publishing unfavorable items in the Blue Ridge Chronicle. Erin competes in a beauty pageant.

A prowler is lurking around Walton's Mountain, which threatens Jason's plans to hold a community dance at Ike Godsey's new Hall.

When Mary Ellen announces her engagement to Dr. David Spencer, the family is surprised. On the day of their engagement party, they get an unexpected visitor: Dr. Curtis Willard, looking to take over the practice of Dr. Vance. Mary Ellen is soon hired by the new doctor to help him get acquainted with his new patients, and as a result begins to have doubts about her relationship with David. Elsewhere, Jim Bob begins a relationship with Mrs. Brimmer's niece, Patsy.

John-Boy sells most of his meadow to pay off his printing press so he can continue the Blue Ridge Chronicle, deeply upsetting Grandpa. He is then alarmed to learn the land company plans to buy up more small plots to do hydraulic gold mining in the community. After fainting while watching Curt perform an emergency tracheotomy, Mary Ellen is later encouraged when she successfully delivers Mrs. Fordwick's baby.

Jim-Bob fixes up Ike's old motorcycle and he enters a motorcycle race. The Godsey's want to adopt a baby but instead adopt a young girl named Aimee.

The irascible Martha Corrine Walton, in her 90s, makes an unexpected return to Walton's Mountain, and reminisces about her early life as the bride of a Civil War veteran. She soon gets on everyone's nerves as she begins adding her methods to the cooking, and her opinions in the family daily life. Ben buys a used pony cart, intending to re-sell it for a profit after he makes some improvements. Martha Corrine calls it a "shay", and paints flowers on the side of cart. Ben takes her in the pony cart to her to visit her husband's grave, and she has a heart attack. 

Note: Beulah Bondi at age 87 won an Emmy Award for her performance in this episode.

Olivia sets about making this Christmas 'the best we ever had', but a variety of emergencies keep each of the Walton children from coming home.

Sheriff Bridges is running for re-election but an out of town opponent has more charm and threatens to put Ep out of a job. A wild mustang is captured and Grandpa is determined to make sure it can continue to run free on Walton's Mountain.

Corabeth gives Olivia a permanent that turns out badly. Grandma is up against new competition for playing the church organ.

As the annual carnival approaches, Elizabeth has recurring nightmares of being trapped on a runaway Ferris wheel. Meanwhile, Ben believes that his height is affecting how people see and treat him.

Note: This is the last episode featuring Ellen Corby in season 5 as she suffered a real life massive stroke which impaired her speech and severely limited her mobility and function. She returned to the show in the last episode of season 6 but was limited for the rest of the series.

Chad Marshall returns to the area where he buys land and wants to marry Erin, but Olivia and John don't approve of Erin getting married before finishing school, so Erin and Chad decide to elope; meanwhile, Ike takes a trip and leaves Jason to run the store, and Jason finds out that Maude Gormley isn't allowed any credit due to her outstanding debt, so John-Boy figures out a way to sell Maude's paintings at the store to help pay off her debt to Ike.

Grandma's medical bills and the mill's deterioration force John to take a job away from home to make more money. At the job, everyone in the office fears the manager who makes life miserable for all. Elizabeth is a tomboy.

Erin graduates from high school still having no direction for her life. She works briefly as a waitress in a roadhouse, then gets a job as a switchboard operator at a business school to buy a typewriter for John-Boy. Family members sneak a look at John-Boy's novel about them and the community.

The Waltons find out Sheriff Ep is a decorated war hero and John-Boy wants to write about it, but Ep wants to keep it quiet. Also, an old friend of Ep's comes to visit. Jim-Boy likes to talk to her about cars and war.

John-Boy wins $25 from a journalism contest and an all expense paid trip to cover the Hindenburg landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey. After witnessing the airship burst into flames, he returns home traumatized and unable to write about it. Meanwhile, Curt and Mary Ellen are frustrated at not having private time from the family.

Jason falls in love with Curt's restless sister Vanessa, who has left her husband to become a singer. John-Boy publishes a story from his novel in his newspaper that upsets his grandfather.

Grandpa tries to sneak into Esther's hospital room with flowers but is rebuffed and told that she needs rest. He feels down until he discovers Aimee needs a grandfather. She had been frustrated at Corabeth's emphasis on highbrow culture instead of letting her play and wander with Elizabeth outdoors.

The Baldwins' cousin Hilary Von Kleist has come home after 17 years as a German diplomat's wife in Europe. Because she keeps avoiding John-Boy's questions about current events in Germany, John-Boy thinks she's hiding something. After staying confined in bed with worry, she finally opens up about her disagreement with the Nazi regime. Meanwhile, Jason joins the National Guard, against his mother's wishes.

As an aggressive used car salesman, Ben loses loved ones' respect; Olivia plays Cupid for Sheriff Ep Bridges.

John-Boy goes to New York City after waiting weeks without word on his novel. It pays off and John-Boy talks to an editor who agrees to publish his novel. John-Boy comes back home and tells them the good news. He also tells the family he is moving to New York City. Mary Ellen and Curt also have news of their own; she is pregnant.

Grandpa and Jim Bob try to trap a hawk who's been terrorizing the Waltons' chickens; while Erin and Corabeth are attracted to the community's new preacher, causing gossip.

Strange footprints and a stringer of catfish lead the Waltons to find 12-year-old Josh, a runaway, in the barn hiding. He attaches himself to John immediately.

Ben leaves home to work at a Norfolk defense factory. Tensions run high between Grandpa and John as they take on a big furniture contract without him. Meanwhile, Jason makes friends with a reclusive woman and leads her out of depression back into the world.

An elderly Indian and his grandson come to Walton's Mountain saying there are sacred burial grounds where the barn is built.

The Waltons have an encounter with a strange English girl while on a small vacation at the Baldwin sister's beach cottage. Ben stays home alone expecting to live the life of a carefree bachelor.

When Erin declines G.W. Haines's marriage proposal, he decides to join the U.S. Army. The Walton parents reluctantly let Erin visit G.W. at his Army camp, where he makes unwanted advances to her. Maude Gormley sells her first painting at Ike's store and offers more paintings for sale through an art dealer.

Mary Ellen gives birth to the Waltons' first grandchild, John Curtis Willard. However, Cassie, a lonely and superstitious teenage neighbor whose premature baby girl was stillborn, believes John Curtis was sent to replace her own baby and she kidnaps him. It is up to Olivia to gently explain to Cassie that someday Cassie will have another baby, but that John Curtis is really Mary Ellen's. Meanwhile, a fire at the Dew Drop Inn leaves Jason jobless.

Curt is called to serve in the U.S. Army Medical Corps, and Walton's Mountain receives its first war casualty when G.W. is killed in a training exercise. Yancy hastily marries Sissy and then goes to enlist in the service, but is not accepted. Sissy tries to decorate and adapt to Yancy's rustic home and his animals.

U.S. soldiers begin staging war games at Drucilla's Pond, killing fish and scaring the Waltons' cow into giving birth. Olivia enters her scenic paintings in a local art show, after which Grandpa secretly buys them back to keep. Corabeth teaches a tap dance routine to Elizabeth and Aimee. They put on a show.

Jim-Bob becomes friends with a boy who says he's joining the Air Corps, but it turns out he ran away from an orphanage to retrieve his young sister who was placed in a different facility. Meanwhile, Elizabeth misses Grandma, and thus builds a grandmotherly relationship with Maude Gormley.

Not understanding why she suddenly feels emotionally fragile, Olivia turns to her Aunt Kate for advice. Jim-Bob wants to get a job but needs both parents to sign a permission slip.

As Christmas approaches, two British children escape the London Blitz to find safety in Walton's Mountain with the Baldwins and the Waltons for Christmas. Meanwhile, Jason contemplates whether he can fight in the impending war, and Olivia has a faith crisis as she can't understand how God could allow war. Mary Ellen and the baby leave to be near Curt; Verdie bakes and sells cakes to raise money for the needy overseas.

The Waltons are excited to learn that John will own the mill after two more payments and be completely clear of debt. However, Ike has a financial emergency when he cannot sell a large supply of refrigerators, so John agrees to lend Ike the money so his store will not be foreclosed. The ladies conspire to find a match for Reverend Buchanan; he shocks them by dating Marcia Woolery.

Flossie Brimmer's brother-in-law Willie and his family relocate from Germantown, Pennsylvania, to Walton's Mountain. A neighbor circulates a rumor that they are German spies, especially after they show interest in Jim Bob's short wave radio. John defends the innocent man and hires him at his mill. The neighbors are finally convinced of the family's innocence after a suspicious package the family receives at Ike's post office turns out to be only medicine.

Ben and Jim-Bob get on each other's nerves. They end up dating each other's girlfriends. Meanwhile, Mamie Baldwin sees a rose bush dying and thinks it means she will die. Grandpa finds a way to help her feel young again.

In spring of 1940, Jason practices his music for a town festival. He finds Josh, Verdie's son, plays the horn. They practice together. The festival organizers do not want Josh. Meanwhile, Elizabeth and Aimee Godsey compete for the same boy.

John and Olivia are getting ready to celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary and they're trying their best to surprise one another on the big day. Meanwhile, as the younger children wonder what to get their parents as a gift, Mary Ellen finds herself trying to stave off temptation when she goes back to work, only to discover her old fiancé is working at the same hospital as her.

Looking to learn more about her family's history, Verdie asks Jason for help. However, through the course of their investigation, they learn some painful truths about her grandfather and how he was born into slavery. Meanwhile, Elizabeth becomes a pen pal with a soldier from a nearby base.

Due to Jim Bob and Ben's negligence, Elizabeth has a bad accident, tumbling off a stack of loose logs she has climbed on to reach a bird's nest. The family must help keep Elizabeth's determination high when the doctor is unsure whether she will walk again. Erin minds the house while Olivia stays with Elizabeth. After a hospital stay, she is sent home wearing leg braces.

John-Boy returns to Walton's Mountain on assignment to write a news story after receiving a letter from Olivia saying that hard times have hit Jefferson County and jobs are scarce. He talks Mr. Guthrie into reopening the Guthrie coal mine to create more jobs; his family will begin by doing carpentry to shore up the mine shaft. But when John, Jason, Ben, Jim-Bob, Harley, and Ike are trapped in a cave-in, John-Boy seems to be the one to blame. John makes a decision about working at a defense plant.

John-Boy proposes to Daisy and she says yes. Daisy reconnects with her mother and learns some surprising news. Elizabeth and her friend George open a lemonade stand. Grandpa finds a way to increase sales.

Grandma, barely able to speak, finally returns home after being in the hospital for over a year. Grandpa is thrilled but thinks there is something wrong with his "old woman." A boy gives Elizabeth a piglet for her 4-H project, but it keeps running away.

Note: This is the last appearance of Grandpa Walton due to the death of actor Will Geer. The producers chose to write Grandpa's passing into the season 7 opening episode rather than recast the character.

Everybody mourns the death of Grandpa Zeb and Flossie Brimmer. John struggles hard to fill a huge lumber contract and Mary Ellen and Erin move to Charlottesville and get an apartment.

Jim-Bob falls for the Baldwin sisters' pretty young cousin who's visiting from a convent school, but her plans may not include long term romance. Ben hires a mill hand with a drinking problem.

Boone Walton is placed in the care of Jason after being charged with bootlegging. Boone helps the Baldwins who have misplaced their father's recipe, and can't stay dry and runs off. John-Boy's old love, Daisy Garner, arrives on the mountain with her daughter Melissa.

Mary Ellen becomes dependent on amphetamines to keep her going during the stressful time leading up to her nursing exams, but struggles to resist further pills. Meanwhile, Sissy walks out on Yancy, tired of their dirty home and the animals in the house, and starts to file for divorce. Elizabeth attempts to reunite the couple.

Strange happenings coincide with Elizabeth's approaching 13th birthday. Meanwhile, Jason becomes the host of a new radio show, giving relationship advice.

Erin wrestles with feelings of love and fear toward an artist who has devastating memories of German occupied Paris and who attempts to paint her in a mural. Meanwhile, Jim-Bob and Elizabeth buy a canary for Grandma but can't get him to sing.

Corabeth, going through a midlife crisis, tries numerous failed business endeavors such as a dance studio, all the while seeking refuge in alcohol. Meanwhile, Jim-Bob tries to teach Elizabeth to drive.

Verdie Foster's daughter Esther returns to the mountain. Graduated with honors from college, she cannot find a job. Erin helps her get a job at Pickets Plant. Ike Godsey puts up a board of the local boys in the war.

One of Grandma's old beaus, a widower from Richmond, comes to visit and bonds with her, taking her on several dates. Meanwhile, Jim-Bob and Yancy distill alcohol strong enough to run their cars on after gas is rationed. Corabeth adds stylish hats to the store inventory.

Just as Mary Ellen prepares to join Curt in Hawaii, the attack on Pearl Harbor occurs, forcing the U.S. into World War II and leaving Mary Ellen and Verdie concerned for their loved ones stationed there. Meanwhile, Ben takes out a girl nicknamed "Sinful Cindy", whom Olivia does not approve of. 

Elizabeth falls in love with the minister when he is forced out of the parsonage by a skunk. Erin is helping the Baldwin sisters write their memoirs and Erin finds a ring that was left by Ashley Longworth.

Wanting to make a profit off of the now heavy traffic near Walton's Mountain, Ben, Ike, and Corabeth decide to build an auto court and landscaped town square. They mistakenly believe a busy factory is coming. Yancey studies barbering, practicing on his reluctant neighbors.

Jason expresses doubt to the army recruiters that he could ever kill a person. Ben is embarrassed by his hesitation to serve. Meanwhile, Jim-Bob cannot wait to serve.

John-Boy's old college roommate Mike Paxton stays with the Waltons after he is injured when his ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat. Meanwhile, Ike and Ben perform a song and dance routine to audition for the USO.

Olivia receives unwelcome news from the doctor. Meanwhile, Elizabeth is making a family cookbook and discovers a surprise ingredient in Grandma's sponge cake. Also, Jim-Bob drives the family crazy by taking up the accordion.

While Jim-Bob is working underneath a car, it falls and Jim-Bob has a close call with death and decides to become a minister. Elizabeth catches bugs for a school project and keeps them in the house.

Ben begins dabbling in photography and jokingly takes a revealing picture of Erin, which quickly becomes the popular pin-up at Camp Lee. Though Erin enjoys the fan mail, John strongly disapproves. Meanwhile, Mary Ellen becomes overly protective of John Curtis and neglects her nursing career.

With the stress of the price freeze, food rationing, and extra business, Ike suffers a heart attack, and Corabeth blames herself. The Walton children offer to run the store while he recovers. Meanwhile, Ben and Jim-Bob enter the molasses business to resolve the sugar shortage.

Emily's memories of Ashley Longworth are stirred up when his handsome son Ashley Jr. arrives on leave from the Navy with news of his father. A confused Miss Emily thinks he is her Ashley returning to her, which causes problems for Erin, who also falls for him. Elizabeth has her problems with just growing up.

The family is shocked when Ben returns from a trip with a wife, Cindy. The young couple takes up residence in the shed next to the house and has petty disagreements until the others convince Ben he is bossing her and should back off. Ike buys Corabeth a decorative outdoor fountain.

When the family discovers that the new owner of the Dew Drop Inn is an old girlfriend of John's, they worry that John will get tempted to start things back up with her again, while Elizabeth, Erin, and Cindy attempt to open a canteen for the soldiers on leave from the camp at Rockfish.

Jim-Bob finds out he is not eligible to fly in the Air Corps due to bad vision. He realizes he can join to work on the planes even if he cannot fly them. Meanwhile, a friend of Curt's visits and after hesitation, Mary Ellen joins him on a date.

Jason tries desperately with his music professor to meet the course's requirements of an original composition; the families of Walton's Mountain argue over who was the first settler.

John serves on the local draft board. A young soldier he drafted has been killed and the boy's distraught father threatens John and Jim-Bob. The family has its own feelings of loss when a telegram arrives stating John-Boy is MIA. Meanwhile, Erin tries to get a raise from J.D. Pickett.

Olivia's aunt Rose and her two mischievous grandchildren arrive at the Waltons. The children repeatedly cause trouble, including shoplifting, driving a car into a fence, and starting a brush fire. Ike and Jim-Bob build an air raid siren, which Jeffrey accidentally sets off.

John discovers he never received his high school diploma because he enlisted for WWI before he graduated. The Army refuses to do business with him if he can't produce it, so he must take an equivalency exam. Mary Ellen takes over for the county nurse who has joined the army, and she must earn the trust of the skeptical backwoods people who refuse her help for their ill children.

Olivia creates a daycare facility for the children whose mothers are working at J. D. Pickett's. Ike takes dancing lessons from Rose, but Corabeth suspects he is having an affair.

A film company comes to Walton's Mountain and the Pickett plant is used for a war time documentary. Erin is convinced by the director that she has potential in Hollywood. The Baldwins organize a party for soldiers at their home but are disappointed when no one comes, so Jason takes drastic action.

With John-Boy still MIA, the manuscript he wrote is waiting to be published, so John and Olivia must sign in his absence and they try to locate him through the Red Cross. The family dog Reckless, whom Jeffrey has become attached to, dies of old age while romping through the woods with him.

After experiencing combat, Ashley Longworth Jr. visits on leave and proposes that he and Erin marry immediately. But, she has difficulty adjusting to the loss of his faith and the changes in his behavior. Meanwhile, Serena becomes Elizabeth's shadow.

Olivia is shocked when she discovers the reason why Darcy Thatcher is no longer responding to her husband's letters. Corabeth receives a large inheritance, buys a luxury car, and talks of retiring. The Waltons receive news about John-Boy.

To be near John-Boy who is in a coma, Olivia joins the Red Cross. Rose plans the big Thanksgiving dinner. John and Olivia spend Thanksgiving in Richmond Hospital with John-Boy.

Jim-Bob falls for an attractive older woman, the wife of an Air Corps pilot, and helps her do home repairs. After he gives her perfume, she realizes he has become obsessed and tells him they can only be friends. Then she learns her husband was KIA. Jim-Bob takes his first ride in a biplane. Serena works on scout merit badges, then wanders into the woods at night.

Mary Ellen and Erin try to prove they can do anything as well as men, so they enter the 1st Annual Run and Ride Race in Rockfish and eagerly train with Elizabeth coaching for the race. Jeffrey gets a signed picture from a movie star.

When a German POW escapes from a nearby camp and hides out on Walton's Mountain, he befriends Jeffrey, and in turn helps the boy find the true meaning of Christmas. Corabeth's holiday pageant is cancelled.

Cindy follows a book's advice on how to be a good wife, but ends up exhausting herself. Serena and Jeffrey adopt a cat which has a litter of kittens.

Jason realizes the full horrors of war when his Jewish fellow soldier Ted Lapinsky reveals that his grandfather was killed in a Nazi extermination camp. Jason invites him to stay with the Walton family over the weekend. Meanwhile, Elizabeth must deal with being teased and called a "teacher's pet" when she earns straight A's on her report card.

Elizabeth makes friends with the new progressive school teacher, Ms. Lamphere, but then discovers she has a terminal illness. The teacher devotes a class session to childbirth over Corabeth's objections. Meanwhile, as the time nears for Cindy and Ben's baby to arrive, Ben waits it out drinking. Ben can't be found when Cindy goes into labor, so the Waltons escort her to the hospital, giving birth to their daughter Virginia.

After an encounter with a GI, Ben is annoyed with what he feels to be preferential treatment in regards to being deferred in the draft to work at the mill. After getting into trouble with their respective families, Jeffrey and his friend Josh Foster get in trouble gambling. When Josh gets caught trying to steal their winnings out of Ike's store, Jeffrey starts to feel guilty when Josh has to deal with all the fallout.

Grandpa's cousin Zadok pays the family a visit to settle his affairs. At Camp Rockfish, Jason tries to break the ice with an officious female sergeant.

Grandma returns home and meets Rose. Miss Mamie refuses to have cataract surgery, so John and Mary Ellen move Grandma in with the Baldwins to convince them that surgery is the right thing to do. Elizabeth tries different ways to get a boy to ask her to a dance but ends up going with Drew.

One thing after another goes wrong for John, who is swamped with orders at the mill. When the motor from the old power saw blows out, it becomes the "last straw," and he quits the lumber business. Jeffrey builds a racing cart for a school project and hopes Ike will bring the All-American Soap Box Derby to Walton's Mountain.

A former boyfriend and dance partner of Rose's comes to visit. Rose and Stanley Perkins resume their relationship, but the open road still calls out to Stanley. Meanwhile, Jeffrey has a new dog who is in the teething stage.

John-Boy returns to Walton's Mountain, physically healthy but mentally tormented by the fact that he can't remember the plane crash he was in. The girlfriend of his drowned co-pilot visits him. Ike ignores his military draft notice and is arrested for evasion, until the authorities realize he is overage.

When a Mexican American paratrooper who Curt saved at Pearl Harbor arrives on the mountain to personally deliver a medal awarded to Curt, things get off to a rocky start when bigots start picking on him due to his heritage. While there, Mary Ellen helps him work through his anger and the pair become close. Meanwhile, Corabeth crosses paths with an old beau who is preparing to go overseas with his Army unit.

Jim-Bob contemplates failing a school examination so he won't have to be valedictorian. Once he graduates, he and his classmates enlist in the military. Corabeth suggests a too frilly graduation ceremony. Meanwhile, all the Walton boys are sent overseas for active duty when the Allies invade France. Erin gets a "Dear Joan" letter from Ashley Longworth Jr. who married a girl in London. 

Verdie's husband Harley is accused of escaping prison after committing a murder nine years ago and is reluctantly arrested by Sheriff Bridges. John-Boy and Toni try to find Jason in France. Corabeth stops working at the store. Elizabeth puts off Drew to ride her horse.

John fights to clear Harley's name by traveling to Warm Springs, Georgia where he gets President Roosevelt to issue Harley an official pardon, just before the President's sudden death.

Mary Ellen attempts to enroll in medical school to become a doctor after the community's beloved "Sweet Billy" dies, but she is discouraged by the school's sexist Dean. Meanwhile, Jason receives many birthday presents as he and John-Boy fight in France, including some of The Recipe from the Baldwin sisters.

V-E Day arrives, but Jason and his squad must contend with a German sniper who doesn't know it's over. Ben deals with the Japanese in the Pacific. Jim-Bob catches a very slow ride toward home on a mule cart; the Godseys are caught and called before a panel for occasionally selling groceries without ration stamps; and Ike's store is burglarized.

Cindy's premonitions about Ben being in danger come true when word arrives that he has been captured by the Japanese; John-Boy falls in love with a French girl who runs a book shop in Paris, and agrees to write an article on the threat of unexploded mines.

Jim-Bob comes home on leave but runs into trouble when a girl claims to be pregnant with his child. Mary Ellen finds the girl is only faking a pregnancy. Meanwhile, Jason reunites with Toni in Paris, and Ben and his navy buddies defy the Japanese commandant in the POW camp by raising a makeshift US flag.

Ben and his fellow POWs are worried they might be executed after the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to ensure the end of the war. Meanwhile, Jason and Toni have differing plans for their future together.

When Ben returns home from the Pacific Theater, he throws John for a loop when he makes an announcement he would like to enroll in college to become an engineer instead of returning to work with his father at the mill. Later, John receives some news from Olivia that her health has taken a turn for the worse and contemplates selling the mill in order to be with her. Meanwhile, as Erin tries to enjoy her vacation, her boss JD is lost without her in the office and as a result, stops by the house on a daily basis to beg her to come back to work early.

Now that the war is over, a restless veteran names Jonesy finds his way to Walton's Mountain and soon befriends Mary Ellen and almost the rest of the Walton family. As Jonesy and Mary Ellen become smitten with one another and eventually talk about getting married, Mary Ellen is in for a surprise when a stranger arrives in town with some unsettling and surprising news about her husband Curt. Jason decides to buy the Dew Drop Inn and is overwhelmed by how much work is needed to reopen it.

As Mary Ellen travels to Florida to find out more about Curtis and why he chose not to return to the Mountain following what happened in Pearl Harbor, Jonesy decided to stay until she returns home and temporarily gets a job working at Pickett. When Erin finds out that J.D. makes Jonesy her boss, she angrily quits, leaving him to find out rather quickly that Jonesy isn't qualified for the job. As a result of the bind he's in Jonesy is able to talk J.D. into rehiring Erin and giving her a promotion and a raise after he realizes how important she is to the company.

On his way to Walton's Mountain, Cindy's father is in a car accident and dies. While going through his papers, Cindy soon discovers that she was adopted. With Ben's help, she embarks on a quest to find her birth mother in order to find out why she was put up for adoption. Meanwhile, Drew moves in with the Waltons while his family visits his ill grandmother in Richmond, to Elizabeth's delight.

Having just been discharged from the military, Jim-Bob and Jody carouse and cause trouble with their new 'hot rod' until the sheriff straightens them out. The Baldwins still is discovered by the government, and they come to dismantle it but Ike helps them find a way to continue making the recipe.

Rose's old boyfriend, Stanley Perkins, comes back to Walton's Mountain with a few secrets: being fired from his old job causing him to have a nervous breakdown. As he attempts to settle in on the mountain, Stanley soon fears that a relapse will occur and contemplates returning to the hospital for treatment; only to be talked out of it by Rose and his new friends in town. Jason hires a new singer at The Dew Drop Inn who pays too much attention to Toni.

Walton's Mountain receives a new Reverend, Tom Marshall, who proceeds to renovate the dilapidated church with the assistance of the Waltons and friends. Meanwhile, Jason and Toni consider marriage, but embarrassment over religious differences threatens their plans.

Corabeth believes that her estranged twin sister is going to take off with their dying aunt's coveted pearls; Elizabeth wants to go to Arizona to see Olivia and John.

The Waltons help rescue the battered wife of a violent veteran who has flashbacks of combat. Jim-Bob is cheated as he tries his hand in the war surplus market.

Looking for a teaching position at Boatwright University, John-Boy undertakes the job of selling the university's board of directors on starting a television program on campus. While working on his presentation, he gets inspiration from John Curtis. Meanwhile, Rose decides to go on a diet when her competition for Stanley's affections calls her out on her weight.

After finding an old love letter in Ike's belongings, Corabeth furiously accuses him of having an affair and demands a divorce. The Walton family then sets out to try and get the couple to sit down and work things out, only to take sides in laying the blame in the Godsey's problems. Meanwhile, it's Drew and Elizabeth's one year anniversary of dating, and as a result, Drew attempts to pressure her into spending the night with him.

Stanley Perkins once again proposes to Rose, and she accepts. However, after discovering she has a heart condition, she breaks the engagement, not wanting to keep him from his dream of traveling. Cindy discovers she dislikes working at the dress shop and would rather stay at home.

A charming young lumberjack begins to court Erin, but when another side of her suitor's personality is revealed, Erin's fervent romance turns into a nightmare; Jim-Bob and Ike discover illegally dumped waste.

Mary Ellen rescues an underaged girl from a contracted marriage, and her enraged fiancé kidnaps Elizabeth in retaliation. Also, cantankerous cousin Octavia visits the Baldwin ladies to help them sort out their lifestyle.

John-Boy goes to New York City again to submit his third book for publication. But after his manuscript is rejected, he feels sorry for himself and returns home feeling like a failure. Meanwhile, the Baldwin sisters plan an elegant reunion ball for their finishing school class, but no one comes except the neighbors.

Erin is considering marrying her boyfriend Paul Northridge. Her old boyfriend, Ashley Longworth Jr., who left her to marry someone else but is recently widowed, would like to get Erin back, but Paul is not going to give her up so easily. Then there's Mary Ellen's boyfriend, Jonesy, who is a veterinarian trying to establish a practice, but nobody thinks he is competent. And Ben, who has been minding the lumber business while their father is with their ailing mother in Arizona, is having some problems and everybody's worried that he's digging himself a hole that he might not get out of.

Mary Ellen has a car accident during her honeymoon with Jonesy which leaves her unable to bear children. Ben and Cindy welcome the birth of their 2nd child. Aimee Godsey has difficulties finding her place as she matures into a woman. The family celebrates Mother's Day.

As the Thanksgiving holiday approaches, members of the widely dispersed Walton clan try to organize a family reunion. Elizabeth feels sad about those who cannot be there, including her boyfriend Drew, her parents, and John-Boy. Also, newlyweds Erin and Paul want to move out; Jason decides to make more of his musical talent, while Jim-Bob asks the Baldwin sisters to help him expand his garage business. In New York City, John-Boy is in a relationship with Jane Schuler, who tries to help him deal with writer's block. Mary Ellen and Jonesy must fatten up a turkey for the big day. John Curtis continuously runs off to the woods to meet an invisible "friend." The family is surprised to find out who it is while looking through a family album.

In the 1960s John-Boy is still living in New York, trying to persuade his fiancée to marry him. Meanwhile, Ben and Cindy's daughter, Virginia, has died and Cindy is finding life very lonely without her. She tells Ben that she would dearly love to adopt another baby, but Ben feels that it is not a good idea. Also Ben is arguing with his father about their lumber company for he wants to buy a new truck, but John keeps insisting that they can't afford it. Elsewhere, Erin now has three children and is separated from Paul. Her decision to start seeing another man causes some indignation among the other Walton family members. Ike and Corabeth become grandparents when Aimee has a little baby daughter, while Elizabeth returns from Europe and reunites with Drew, her old beau.

John-Boy and Janet are to be married, but plans threaten to get out of control when Janet's Aunt Flo puts herself in charge of the arrangements. Back on the mountain, John's entry into local politics creates a charge of "conflict of interests", and Olivia is nervous when she signs on for a course in American Studies at Boatwright. Grandma is furious when a dark secret about her father is exposed. Toni is expecting yet another child, Corabeth attempts to become a writer through a mail-order correspondence course.

It's 1969 and John-Boy is the TV news anchor person in New York and is in the throes of writing a new book. He and a very pregnant Janet are making plans to return to Walton's Mountain for the celebration of John and Olivia's 40th wedding anniversary. Teaching at school, Olivia is worried about one of her pupils whose father is deliberately discouraging his studies. Meanwhile, Elizabeth arrives back from her travels and announces to Drew, who is still working at the mill with Ben, that she is back to stay. She is very upset to find that Drew did not wait for her, and that he has a new girlfriend. Also, problems arise for John-Boy and Janet because the longer John-Boy stays on the mountain, the more he becomes convinced that he would like to settle down there, raise his family, and continue with his writing whereas Janet wants to stay in New York.

Earl Hamner, creator of this series, is host for a 200th-hour special featuring highlights of shows from the past eight years and a visit to the Blue Ridge Mountains in Virginia to meet with Hamner's own family, the real-life models for the Waltons.