While their fathers secretly trail them, young Albert Ingalls and Andy Garvey set off to prove their mettle as men by accepting a challenge to live by their wits during a week-long, overland walk from Walnut Grove to Sleepy Eye and back.

The building that houses the school for the blind is being turned into a hotel, so Adam and Mary are forced to move their school. Miraculously, there is a place in Walnut Grove that can belong to them, but with no money for transportation, they must all make the journey by foot.