While delivering a load of fence posts to a neighbor, John-Boy spots someone he knows stealing a couple of chickens. He keeps the fact to himself and confronts the thief, who agrees to return the fowl. But when the sheriff tells the Waltons that the neighbor was shot by a chicken thief, John-Boy regrets keeping his knowledge to himself, even though he is sure the thief he saw is not capable of shooting anyone. Meanwhile Ben has a crisis of conscience of his own when he wins a poetry contest with something he feel he stole from John-Boy.

Raised in a local home for orphaned boys, Hobie Shanks couldn't wait to leave the county as soon as he was old enough. But he had pleasant memories of the times he spent with the Waltons. Hobie returns for a visit, and his boasts of being scouted by a major league baseball team thrill almost all the Waltons (and the rest of the community.) Hobie resists the Waltons' pushing him to visit the orphanage where some of the young boys there would see a hopeful future in him, so John-Boy suggests organizing a baseball game with the boys.