Little House on the Prairie - 8 ª Season

Several weeks earlier, Percy and Nellie traveled to New York (with their infant twins, Benny and Jenny) to help run the family's store and hotel after Percy's father, Mr. Cohen, falls gravely ill; the elder Mr. Cohen soon dies. Nellie - who is never seen on-camera - writes to her parents and tells them that their stay in New York will now be permanent to carry on the family business. This news saddens Nels, but Mrs. Olesen's life virtually comes to a complete stop. She is deeply depressed, refuses to eat and cannot sleep; there are times when she'd rather be dead. Nels and Dr. Baker are very concerned and decide to talk Mrs. Olesen into adopting a 9- or 10-year-old girl. At first, Mrs. Olesen flatly objects, but changes her mind after Cassandra visits with her. The Olesens travel to the orphanage in Sleepy Eye to visit with the young girls; Nels considers one of the well-mannered girls, but Mrs. Olesen rejects them all since none of them are like Nellie. Nels tries to reason with his wife; just when he gives up hope, there is a loud crash and a scuffle involving one of the girls. Mrs. Olesen's spirits immediately perk up, and it isn't long before they find out who this girl is - Nancy, a bratty troublemaker who is exactly the girl Mrs. Olesen is after. Nels tries to get his wife to reconsider, but upon learning that Nancy will soon be taken to a home for behavior-problem children, he feels obliged to adopt the girl for everyone's sake. Willie objects when he meets his new sister, since it will ruin his chance at a normal childhood. As one might expect, Nancy immediately asserts herself as the town's new troublemaker, getting into a first-day-of-school fight with Cassandra and stealing Willie's homework. After the latter incident, Nels wants to reprimand Nancy but Mrs. Olesen interferes. Other stories in the episode involve Adam and Mary planning to move to New York to take over his father's law practice (since meaningful work can't be found in Walnut Grove); and Hester Sue coming to work at Nellie's Restaurant and Hotel (after the state closes the School for the Blind).

Nels goes to the ice house to get supplies and finds an unconscious (and frozen) Belinda inside. Belinda, as it turns out, will be just fine, but Nels decides to get some answers. Nancy claims she saw Willie close the door to the ice house (which he affirms), but she says nothing more about why; only the audience knows it was part of a diabolical plan to kill off her school rival and obtain the leading role in the school talent show. Later, Charles is visiting Sleepy Eye and visits with the orphanage director. In casual conversation, Charles learns that Nancy's mother had died due to childbirth complications, and that her behavior was growing increasingly worse; had the Olesens not adopted her, she would have been moved to a home for behavior-problem children. Charles shares his findings with Laura, who is left speechless. They then deduce that Nancy was behind the plan to lock Belinda in the ice house and Willie was left to play an unwitting role. Laura concludes that one-time rival Nellie had done some bad things during her wilder days, but even Nellie had morals and limits; Nancy's behavior, on the other hand, has no bounds and that what she has done has already far outdone Nellie. Even Mrs. Olesen is outraged at being lied to about her background. Laura then meets with Nancy's classmates and they conspire to teach Nancy a lesson once and for all. They decide to make Nancy the show queen! Well, that's all they tell her ... at first. On the day of the show, Nancy is dressed as a mermaid and thinks she's going to be the darling of the show. That is, until she sees she's sitting just above a water tank; she's been made queen of the dunk tank! After Belinda gets her revenge, Mrs. Olesen wants her turn ... and dunks Nancy! Mrs. Olesen then tells her daughter that she has people who love her and care for her, and she doesn't have to lie to get that sort of attention.

James begins feeling insecure about his place in the Ingalls family, and tries a little too hard to emulate the older Albert. When he is caught with a shaving blade stolen from the Mercantile, James runs away, leaving Albert to go find him and convince his adopted brother to come back home.

Dr. Baker is enthusiastic about his new assistant, a young university-trained physician named Caleb LeDoux ... until he realizes he is black. The Ingalls family are among the few to accept Dr. LeDoux, while others' reactions range from prejudice to outright racism. Even Dr. Baker has a tough time concealing his prejudice. Then, a pregnant white woman is suffering from complications and must rely on LeDoux to save her life, but the woman's racist husband refuses to cooperate and Charles must intervene. The surgery is a success and both woman and her baby son are fine; Dr. Baker is stunned and realizes he must deal with his own prejudice ... by going all out to convince Dr. LeDoux to stay when he threatens to leave the community.

Laura attends a writing seminar in Arizona, but the experience is marred by a rude professor who cuts her down at every turn.