Laura, Almzanzo, and Rose say good-bye to Ma and Pa Ingalls and Laura's sisters. In a covered wagon containing all their possessions, they make their wayacross the drought-stricken Midwest to the lush greenvalleys of southern Missouri.

In the early 1900s, young Rose Wilder and her parents struggle with a series of natural disasters on their farm in Missouri.

Rose meets a girl named Alva, a neighbor at her Missouri farm, and together they explore the hills, pick pokeweed, explore a cave, and have other adventures in the Ozark Mountains.