Wed, Jan 7, 1976
Trying to interest his newly adopted son in more "manly" pursuits than reading and writing poetry, Isaiah Edwards buys a rifle for John Jr.'s birthday and stubbornly insists that the two of them go turkey hunting, even though the sensitive teenager has made it plain that he doesn't want to go. But a life-threatening situation during the hunt and a secret revealed afterward, result in a life-changing event for both of them.
Wed, Jan 28, 1976
Mary worries that she'll disappoint Walnut Grove if she doesn't place first in the state mathematics competition after the community pays her way to represent them; meanwhile Laura's feelings of jealousy towards her older sister are soothed and she begins to feel more grown-up after her wise Pa asks her to take charge of the Ingalls household while Caroline accompanies Mary to Minneapolis.
Wed, Feb 25, 1976
When teacher, Miss Beadle, is deemed unable to control some of the rowdy, older boys in her class, Mrs. Oleson convinces the Walnut Grove school board to replace her with a firmer, male hand. But the new schoolmaster tries to bully his students into submission and singles little Laura out as a troublemaker, blaming and punishing her for the slightest infraction even when she isn't the one responsible.
Wed, Mar 3, 1976
When their grain doesn't sell for enough to see their families through the winter, Charles and Isaiah hire on with the railroad to haul a wagon-load of highly explosive nitroglycerin over a treacherous mountain road and, as their journey progresses, find themselves dealing with situations almost as volatile as the freight they so carefully carry.
Wed, Mar 24, 1976
Coming home after 12 years of performing with a busy Philadelphia orchestra, Mrs. Whipple's troubled son, Granville, hopes that the peace of Walnut Grove will help him shake the nightmares and the morphine addiction that resulted from an incident during the Civil War Battle of Shiloh.
Wed, Mar 31, 1976
Overwhelmed by the senseless destruction left in the wake of a devastating tornado, a bone-weary Charles Ingalls convinces himself to give up trying to make a life for his family on an unforgiving prairie, puts the farm up for sale and prepares to move back to the big woods where he was born.
Mon, Oct 4, 1976
When Nellie Oleson is seriously injured after falling from Bunny, a horse that used to belong to Laura Ingalls, Nellie's mother blames Laura for the accident and orders the animal destroyed. But Laura secretly steals her still-beloved Bunny away from Mrs. Oleson's vengeance and resigns herself to the penance of waiting hand and foot on a demanding, bedridden Nellie.
Mon, Nov 22, 1976
Life in Walnut Grove with Charles, Caroline and three active grandchildren seems to be just the tonic Grandpa Ingalls needs to help him recover from his wife's death until a broken promise after a terrible accident reopens an old wound and drives a wedge between him and granddaughter Laura.
Mon, Dec 20, 1976
Laura feels like she has grown enough to go hunting with Charles so they let her. While unrolling the bedroll, she accidentally knocks over the gun that Charles left loaded and ready to shoot. It goes off, hitting Charles in the abdomen. Laura has to try to help him back to the trapper's cabin. She manages to get him on his horse, but when they are going up a hill, it's too steep and the horse and Charles slide back down the hill. The horse dies. Charles sends Laura to the cabin to get help. She gets there and the trapper has gone off to check his traps and only his blind father is in the cabin. Laura needs someone strong to help her get Pa to the cabin. The blind man helps her but then Laura insists that the blind man help her find the road they came in on so that she can find Mr. Edwards at their meeting place and send him to get a doctor. It'll take a miracle to save Charles.