Verdie's husband Harley is arrested for an old crime. John tries to prove his innocence or a way to avoid prison. John-Boy and Toni try to find Jason in France. Corabeth stops working at the store. Elizabeth puts off Drew to ride her horse.
Verdie's husband Harley is arrested for an old crime. John tries to prove his innocence or a way to avoid prison. John-Boy and Toni try to find Jason in France. Corabeth stops working at the store. Elizabeth puts off Drew to ride her horse.
Mary Ellen wants to attend medical school. The dean wants to keep her out, but she is persistent. The Baldwin sisters send The Recipe to Jason in France.
While happy the war is over, Cindy has a premonition that Ben is in trouble. The family finds out Ben was captured. John-Boy is still in France and falls in love with a woman who owns a book store. He researches story on unexploded mines.
A girl (Jennifer Jason Leigh) claims she is pregnant by Jim-Bob; POW Ben protests his captors by flying a makeshift American flag; Jason is re-stationed in Paris where he reconnects with Toni.
In the Pacific, Ben fears execution when he and another POW are marched into the jungle at gunpoint; Jason and Toni seem uncertain about the future of their romance.
Ben returns home. He plans on leaving the Waltons' mill and becoming an engineer. Olivia has a relapse in her health and has to again leave Walton's Mountain.
Jonesy arrives in town and meets Mary Ellen. They have a whirlwind romance and plan to marry. Mary Ellen receives some surprising news about Curtis after all these years. Jason buys the abandoned Dew Drop Inn and reopens it.
Mary Ellen tracks down her husband, Curt, who was presumed dead after Pearl Harbor. She finds a very changed man. Erin quits Pickett Metal Products when Jonesy is hired to replace her.
When Cindy's father dies, she goes through his things and finds adoption papers. Wondering why her biological mother gave her up, she and Ben try to find her.
Jim-Bob and Jody open an auto repair place. The Baldwin sisters' still is discovered by the government and they come to dismantle it. Ike helps them find a way to continue making the recipe.
Stanley Perkins (William Schallet) reappears in Rose's life, but he seems to be hiding a somber secret. Jason hires a country singer to help business at the inn, but he's more interested in Toni than in performing.
Another new minister begins at Walton's Mountain. The church is in disarray, but he gets the community involved. The Walton family finds out Toni is a Jew and are unsure of how to react. Toni questions her own faith.
Corabeth returns to her family home to help a dying aunt. Her twin Orma Lee visits the mountain. (She is played by Ronnie Claire Edwards.) Orma Lee is quite the opposite of Corabeth. Elizabeth wants to visit Olivia and John in Arizona.
The Waltons help rescue the battered wife of a violent veteran who has flashbacks of combat. Jim-Bob is cheated as he tries his hand in the war surplus market.
John-Boy needs a job. At the university, he convinces them to let him set up a television media program. He hosts a television spot. Jim-Bob builds a television so they can see the show. Zuleika tries to come between Rose and Stanley.
Corabeth finds a romantic letter in Ike's belongings and wants a divorce. She says she could not forgive him; he says he forgave her. Turns out he knew about her visits with former friend. Drew and Elizabeth celebrate one year.
Rose and Stanley plan to get married. Rose finds out she has a heart condition and tries to break it off. He does not mind staying on the sidelines of life with her. Cindy gets a job but soon realizes she wants to be a stay-at-home mom.
A new lumber company starts in the area and wants to sell wood to the Waltons. Erin falls in love with the handsome son of the owner. Ike and Jim-Bob try a get-rich-quick scheme by hunting for uranium with a Geiger counter.
Mary Ellen rescues a girl from a contracted marriage, and her enraged fiancé kidnaps Elizabeth in retaliation. Cousin Octavia visits the Baldwin ladies to help them sort out their lifestyle.
In New York, John-Boy's publisher rejects his latest novel. Broke, he ends up living on the streets. Back on the mountain, the Baldwins plan an elegant party for their finishing school class.