The Waltons' cow gives birth to a bull calf, which John decides must be sold for truck repair money, much to his children's disappointment. John buys the calf back after he learns the buyer plans to butcher rather than breed it.

When John Boy learns that his stories need to be typed in order to be submitted to the various magazines to be published, he turns to the Baldwin sisters to see if he could borrow their father's antique typewriter. He then hides it out in the shed, where Mary Ellen soon finds it and accidentally sells it to the local junk man. After finding out what happened, they try to track it down before telling the sisters what happened.