Now that Mary Ellen is 17, Grandma takes it upon herself to keep the mountain tradition alive by hosting a quilting for her. As a result, Mary Ellen and Grandma stubbornly butt heads because Mary Ellen doesn't want to partake in the custom. John Boy soon makes her see how selfish she's been acting and gets her to participate in it.

When a piece of mill equipment breaks and there's no money for John to fix it, Olivia decides to take a part-time job as a dressmaker to help pay the bills. When her designs are a hit with the wealthy women in town and she is given the opportunity to work full time, Olivia is thrilled at the prospect. However, it doesn't take long for her to start missing all the time she's missing to spend with her family and ultimately has to make a decision of what she wants to do. Meanwhile, Maude Gormley, a neighbor of the Walton's, is less than thrilled when her son made a decision for her to move into a retirement home without consulting her first.

When Jim Bob starts to wonder if he was adopted by the family because of how everyone is making fun of his interests, he soon learns the truth surrounding his birth when he starts investigating what happened when he was born.

Following the death of her husband, Cousin Olivia visits the family, looking for a way to grieve her unexpected loss. When Elizabeth's cat dies while delivering a litter of kittens not long after Olivia's arrival, the two young women turn to one another deal with their grief.