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.

Ma and the girls follow Pa west by train where they make their home at a rough railroad camp and plan for their own homestead.

Pa's homestead thrives, Laura gets her first job in town, blackbirds eat the corn and oats crops, Mary goes to college, and Laura gets into trouble at school, but becomes a certified school teacher.

A young pioneer girl and her family attend a wintertime party at her grandparents' house in the Big Woods of Wisconsin.

A little pioneer girl and her family spend the winter in their log cabin in the Big Woods of Wisconsin

Traditional American songs that the Wilder family would have known, including "Pop! Goes the Weasel," "America," and "Oh, Susanna," with excerpts from the "Little House" books