The Ingalls receive a midnight visit from Will O'Hara, a traveling circus man who, with his irresistibly charming demeanor, persuades Charles to let him set up in front of their home. When O'Hara's "magic powers" nearly cost an appendicitis-stricken Mrs. Oleson her life, Charles asks him to leave town, only to track him down again in the wake of a family crisis.

When a young boy named Graham Stewart arrives at school every day with various bruises, nobody has the courage to do anything -- until his alcoholic father almost kills him in a drunken rage. The Walnut Grove community is reluctant to help, but Caroline encourages them to – for the child's sake.