Summaries

Synopsis

In the middle of the Depression, John Walton is working in a mill, fifty miles away on Christmas Eve while his family prepares for his return. The children bring the cow back to the barn from the fields. John-boy, the eldest, tells the others they may not want to wait in the barn at midnight to hear the animals talk. They each carry wood for the fire back to the house. John's father Ebenezer can feel a storm coming in his bones, but his wife Olivia brings her blooming Christmas cactus from the basement. She tells the children she married their daddy because they were in love, but her family didn't approve of him due to religious differences. She heads to the store to buy sugar for her famous applesauce cake. As the children crack walnuts, they discuss their Christmas lists. Mary Ellen, thirteen years old, throws a tantrum, and John-boy tries to explain the Depression. The youngest girl, Elizabeth, announces that when she grows up, she's going to have puppies instead of babies.

At the store, Olivia meets Hawthorne Dooley, an itinerant preacher. He tells her he's working for the Baldwin sisters. She disapproves as the sisters are known bootleggers, but Dooley points out that work is work. She also meets the sisters themselves, who explain that their still has broken and they hope John Walton can fix it. The Depression has not hit the sisters nearly as hard as the rest of the neighborhood. As she admires the dolls at the store, she discusses her worries about John's return with the shopkeeper, Ike Godsey. John will have to take the bus and then walk a long way. Ike tries to sell Olivia a doll for her youngest and suggests she buy it on credit, but she tells him she has never bought anything without being able to pay for it in her life. As she leaves she runs into the sheriff, Ep Bridges, who tells her he also hasn't seen her husband. Ep tells the shopkeeper he is searching for the Robin Hood Bandit, who is stealing food for the poor from local markets. He suspects Ike knows who the culprit is.

At home, grandmother and grandfather try to tune in a Pittsburgh radio station as Olivia walks in. They hear on the radio that a bus has overturned on the highway, and they fear that John was on the bus. Grandmother suggests they need a telephone, and Olivia says it will be the first thing she gets when the Depression is over.

She calls John-boy down from his room, where he has locked the door, to her consternation. She sends John-boy and Ebenezer out to cut a tree and tells the girls to help her with the cake, "women's work". John-boy and Ebenezer discuss the family history on Walton Mountain as they search for a tree.

As they trim the tree, the children argue about the decorations and break one. John-boy shouts at them and his mother comes in and tells him to hold his temper - as the oldest, it's his responsibility to keep the others in line. Mary Ellen has a real nest with an egg in it that she wants to put on the tree, but the others make fun of it. Mary Ellen calls them all pissants.

Charlie Sneed comes in with a turkey as a present for the family, telling them he shot it up on the mountain. Grandmother is suspicious of his story, but Olivia is thrilled to have a turkey for the table and doesn't ask too many questions. Mary Ellen comes out to watch John-boy milk the cow, and they discuss growing up, dating, and kissing while the rest of the family listens to Fibber McGee and Molly.

Claudie Dooley knocks on the door to tell them a lady has come to hand out presents to the children, but Olivia forbids it as her family has never accepted charity. Ebenezer convinces her to let them go although they may not accept presents. The lady is a missionary, and she has them sing Christmas carols and recite Bible verses before they can have presents. The Walton children whisper verses to other children so they can get their presents. They give Elizabeth a verse as well. She gets a porcelain doll, but the head is cracked and broken and they leave it behind as they return home.

John-boy writes in his diary about the day's events. The grandparents and Olivia discuss his secretive habits, and the radio announces that one person has died in the bus accident. Olivia goes to John-boy and asks him about his locked door. He admits having a diary because he wants to be a writer. He's worried because his father wants him to take up a trade. She sends him to ask Charlie Sneed to drive out and try to find John, and gives him a dollar for gas. She gives him the scarf she'd knitted him for Christmas - the only present he would be getting.

When John-boy reaches the store, he finds Charlie handcuffed by the sheriff and loudly proclaiming his innocence, although his car is half full of stolen goods. He lets John-boy take the car himself as he has driven the old DeSoto around the family farm. As John-boy drives and worries that he is a disappointment to his father, the car runs out of gas. Nearby, Hawthorne Dooley is running a Christmas service and John-boy watches the children sing "Mary, What You Gonna Name that Pretty Little Baby?" As Santa enters, John-boy asks Dooley for help and he recommends heading to the Baldwin's place.

They are ushered in as the sisters are decorating their tree. John-boy is impatient to ask them for gas, but the sisters are excited to have company and they sit and visit for a spell. Emily tells a story of her lost beau and they play a record on the Victrola. Dooley leads them in a round of "Throw out the lifeline" and eventually they all head out on the search in a one-horse open sleigh.

The search is halted when a fallen tree blocks the road. John-boy is adamant that he needs to continue the search, but Dooley insists that he return home as his family will need him, especially if anything has happened to John.

When John-boy returns home, Olivia, now rather panic-stricken, yells at him for gallivanting and accuses him of bringing whiskey into her house. Ebenezer heads out to ring the church bells. John-boy offers to take the children to the barn to hear the Christmas miracle of the animals speaking. He starts to retell them the legend when the door opens and in walks John.

Olivia offers to get him coffee as an excuse to cry in private. He explains that he'd had to hitchhike as far as Hickory Creek and walk the rest of the way. Then he tells a story about scaring Santa away and grabbing a sack of presents from his sleigh. Elizabeth gets her doll and the others get things they've been wanting as well. Olivia gets a bouquet of flowers. John-boy gets a stack of tablets to practice his writing.