Fifteen-year-old Laura learns that living away from home and teaching school can be a bit frightening when most of the students are taller than she is, but every week Almanzo Wilder arrives to take her to her family for the weekend.

Laura and Almanzo Wilder have just been married. Their life on a small prairie homestead begins with high hopes. But each year seems to bring unexpected disasters--storms, sickness, fire, and unpaid debts. These first four years call for courage, strength, and a great deal of determination. Always, though, there is love, especially for the newest member of the family--baby Rose.

A year in the life of two young girls growing up on the Wisconsin frontier, as they help their mother with the daily chores, enjoy their father's stories and singing, and share special occasions when they get together with relatives or neighbors.

Laura tries to get even with Nellie, the meanest girl in school.

Young Caroline Quiner, who would grow up to become Laura Ingalls Wilder's mother, and her family have new adventures as the frontier outpost of Brookfield, Wisconsin, grows into a bustling town.

Laura and Almanzo Wilder and their eight-year-old daughter Rose continue to work to make Rocky Ridge farm in Missouri their new home.