The boys cannot go fishing because they have to take care of their baby brothers and sisters. After trying unsuccessfully to sell their babies to some traveling gypsies, Mary shows up and tells them that her little sister just won a prize at the baby show.
Two sisters, Julia Crossland and Evelyn Jefferson, happy lives are thrown into turmoil when a man from their past, Thomas Chadwick reappears unexpectedly.
After serving 5 years in prison for embezzling church funds, Dr. Ephraim Nye returns to Ostable and the scornful gossip of its residents, led by Althea Bemis.