Mrs. Olson spreads word that Albert had gotten Sylvia pregnant. Caroline knows this isn't true and confronts her nemesis over this misinformation. Mr. Webb decides that, because of the shame his daughter's ordeal brought him, they will move from Walnut Grove. Sylvia decides she'd be happier with Albert, and the two decide to get married. When Mr. Webb finds out Albert had visited her (despite a no-guests rule), he calls Sylvia a whore, and she runs away. Albert - who had gotten a job as at the blacksmith's shop - later helps search for Sylvia.

Pregnancy symptoms hit both Laura and her mother Caroline. Caroline, after bearing four daughters, really wants a son. But when it turns out Caroline is not pregnant at all, but is beginning menopause, she sinks into a deep depression. Her husband and daughters desperately try to convince her that they love her for the person she is, not for the person she wanted to be. Finally, Charles proposes that he and Caroline renew their wedding vows.