The Waltons

- Season 4

(1975)

The reverend and teacher get married. Olivia is asked to be the substitute teacher and John Boy is asked to preach the sermon.

John-Boy's dean asks him to take care of a 16-year-old genius college student for a weekend. The genius is gifted in all academic areas, but woefully lacking in social graces.

A prize fighter arrives searching for work, living and training in the Waltons' barn. Some are put off by his fighting, but he wants to build a church in the community.

John's 25th high school reunion is being planned, but he is apprehensive about facing his highly successful classmates. John-Boy fears he will never make a living as a writer. Jim-Bob makes a profound comment.

A traveling reporter visits the mountain to write story about Judge Baldwin. What he finds upsets the Baldwin sisters and disturbs the community.

Jason spends too much time playing with a band. His school work, music lessons, and health begin to suffer. Meanwhile, John-Boy gets a part-time job in a library; the librarian wants him to choose it as a profession.

John-Boy and Jim-Bob fall in love with a visiting wing walker who is hiding a dark secret.

Mary Ellen and Erin both fall for a forestry student (Michael O'Keefe). He is there to study the trees on Walton's Mountain. Erin and the forestry student date.

Marsha, John-Boy's old girlfriend, returns to sell her family home at the urging of her fiance. Wedding plans end when the fiance realizes the home is in debt. Olivia helps a disadvantaged student get glasses.

Cousin Olivia, who married on the mountain in The Shivaree episode, returns to Walton's Mountain following her husband's sudden death. Family cat has kittens and dies giving birth. Elizabeth and Cousin Olivia both have to heal.

King Edward VIII abdicates the throne and the Waltons follow the story. Meanwhile, a movie production team is in town and John-Boy reconnects with a friend who's part of the production crew. John-Boy is offered a job.

The family helps Vera Walton and her husband, Wade, navigate a rough patch in their marriage. She cannot get used to the city and he is too used to it. He has fallen into the criminal element.

Mary Ellen is eager to begin nursing school, but is unhappy to learn that she lacks the education in algebra and chemistry needed to enter.

Ben is upset at how he is treated at the mill. He gets a job at another lumber company, not realizing they are competing for the same jobs.

Olivia and Elizabeth take a car trip; Jim-Bob is forced to also go. They have car trouble. Elizabeth wanders off. Olivia and Jim-Bob find her but by now, all are lost. Jim-Bob uses his skills to keep everyone safe till they are found.

Jim-Bob wonders if he is adopted because he does not look like other family members. No one wants to talk about his birth, so he investigates and uncovers a long hidden family secret.

Ben starts to hunt animals for their skins to sell for profit. Meanwhile, the Rough Riders are holding a reunion. Grandpa, for all his talk about charging up the hill with Teddy Roosevelt, does not want to attend.

A fire breaks out and burns most of the house. John-Boy loses his completed novel in order to save Erin. As John, Grandpa and John-Boy make repairs, the family must send the younger children to friends and neighbors.

John-Boy sees a young innocent looking girl who appears to be traveling alone. He takes her home. She seems to fit in, but Grandpa sees through her.

Olivia gets a job in the city as a dressmaker. She enjoys it but soon realizes she misses the family too much. Maude Gormley isn't adjusting well to life in a retirement home and returns to the mountain.

Mary Ellen resists joining in on a quilting when she reaches the marrying age. This hurts Grandma's feelings.

Grandma starts a petition to save the old Whitley house, which Grandpa has been contracted to tear down. John-Boy, as editor, writes to suggest that people salvage parts out of the house. Jason plays piano in a music recital.

John-Boy wants to buy a printing press to start his own newspaper. He takes a full time job to earn money for the down payment.

And old love (Kathleen Quinlan) returns and urges John-Boy to join the rebellion in Spain.