Laura gets invited to attend a Great American Writers seminar in Arizona by Eliza Jane. Upon her arrival there, she is in for a rude awakening when she realizes the professor teaching the course is more interested in pursuing a brief, romantic encounter with her than teaching her about what the rest of the class is learning through reading the novels.

Mr. Oleson gets kidnapped by a pair of bumbling ex-convicts. When he learns that Mrs. Oleson refuses to pay their ransom demands, Nels thinks of a way to bring about his freedom, resulting in a large number of Walnut Grove residents also getting kidnapped by the same pair of men.