Since Mary is teaching at the Blind School in Winoka, and the rest of the family can't make a living in Walnut Grove, they move to Winoka, too. Charles gets a job managing a hotel and Caroline runs the kitchen and dining room. They make the acquaintance of an orphan, Albert, who befriends the Ingalls.

Laura befriends a classmate named Amelia Bevins, who is ashamed of her obese father. When the man realizes how much pain he is causing his wife and daughter, he leaves them temporarily for a "business trip" that will change their family forever.