We open on Anna Mears, a girl who is shy and timid, thanks to her abusive, religious father. Well, she manages to elude her Bible thumping old man long enough to send a message in a bottle down the creek, which was found the next by Laura Ingalls. The message requested whoever found it to become a friend. Because they didn't sign it, Laura had no idea who sent it and this baffled her all night and day, until she returned to the creek to see if any more messages had come. Sure enough, there was a second bottle. This one contained a message describing her elusive new friend as well as a lock of her hair. This baffled her even further and by the time she'd finished investigating, it was very late and Charles was furious. He ordered her upstairs and demanded to know where she was, he even threatened to take a switch to her...Um, calm down, Charles, it's not like this is the first time she's ever come home late. Laura explains her predicament about her new friend and the bottles. She's simply hell-bent on finding this person. Charles tries to tell her to just forget about it because it was probably an impossible feat. The messages could have come from anywhere, and as much as Laura wanted to help this lonely individual, it was an impracticality. However despite his warnings, Laura went back to creek and sure enough, there was a third bottle. This contained a photograph...I wonder what the next one will have. Well, more determined than ever to find her new friend, Laura goes back to the creek with Charles the next day and in lieu of bottles, this time they find a baby. An abandoned wailing baby somebody had left near a tree. Charles deduces it was Laura's friend. He goes off to find her, while Laura changed the baby's diaper, discovering it to be a girl. Anna had seen the whole thing and could now rest easier, knowing her baby was in capable hands. Question: how did she manage to hide her pregnancy from her old man, who seems to watch her like a hawk, and for that matter, how did she deliver the baby alone or take care of it in all that time? Well, no need to worry about that now, the baby was here and Laura took her in as her own. She received a clean bill of health from Doc Baker, Laura named her Grace (an overused Little House name) and they all lived happily ever after... well, they would have, except Charles wanted to find the baby's mother, and find out whether or not she meant to give it away. Laura was perfectly happy with her new baby, loving it with all her heart and everything was fine, but Charles, being the sanctimonious idiot that he was, just had to venture off to the nearest town to begin his fools' quest of finding the baby's true parentage.
Upon arriving in town, Charles speaks with the Reverend Pritchard, who worked as the fire captain the other 6 days. Having no idea where Anna and her Pa had moved, he does point out someone who was very close with Anna, one Bobby Harris. Seems he and Anna were an item, until her father took her away and threatened the boy with death if he ever saw her again. He just had to find her, and Charles somehow felt it was his duty to reunite them...makes sense. And so, Charles and Bobby rode alongside the creek into the deepest parts of the woods. Unfortunately, old Nathaniel Mears sees them and assumes Anna somehow brought...HIM. He tries to pump his daughter for a confession and in his blind rage, throws a lantern which sets the cabin ablaze. After all, it's not Little House on the Prairie without something catching fire. Nathaniel grabs Anna and assumes its God's will that they burn like the sinners they are. In her desperate attempt to get away, Anna knocked him down, rendering him unconscious, and quickly dragged him from the flames. Bobby and Anna are tearfully reunited and leave together. Nathaniel comes to, realizes "the devil" has won and stays in the woods all by himself in the remains of his burnt out cabin; so in the end, Laura has to reluctantly say farewell to her Grace and hand her over to her birth mother, who promised to let her keep the name Grace. I guess you could call it a happy ending, though more for some than others.
My verdict: good episode, although it's laden with plot holes and it's just a bit too long, it's still good. I must say, though, I did not like Charles in this episode. What he basically did was like giving a child a puppy and then taking it away. He knew Laura would become attached to the baby, so he let her and then he took it away from her. I also did not like the actors who played Anna and Bobby, Lenora May and Michael Mullins, respectively. They were not very convincing in their performances and at no point did I feel sympathy for either character. I guess maybe it was easier to side with Laura in this one because everyone likes babies. Don't deny it. Hearing the crying just bundles your nerves. We wanted the child out of harm's way and into the best care, in this case it was Laura, and she was so happy. But then along comes Charles to inject a heavy dose of reality, as do the baby's mentally challenged parents. I guess it depends who you are and how your feelings on this matter on who's side you take, but if you take Nathaniel's side, then you are messed up, brother. So, give this episode a chance, I say. It's not the best, but's really good, and Melissa Gilbert was magnificent.
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