Poor financial conditions influence the Ingalls family to move to Winoka when Mary goes there to teach at the Blind School. They meet Albert, an orphan to whom Charles forms an attachment, even though Laura catches him stealing from the hotel that Charles manages.

Trying to convince Tom Carlin, blinded by a childhood bout of the measles, that he can lead a productive life, Adam Kendall battles Tom's bitter, skeptical father and is unexpectedly aided by the underdog Winoka Warriors, who have just lost their star player to a rival football team.