Perennial busybody Harriet Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) inaugurates a gossip column in the local Walnut Grove newspaper. With her usual sensitivity toward other people's feelings, she uses her column to malign a local farming family -- for no other reason than they are recent immigrants from Germany. Acting as the church's lay minister while Rev. Alden is away, Charles (
Michael Landon) uses his sermon to teach Mrs. Oleson a lesson. Meanwhile, Charles' daughter Laura (
Melissa Gilbert) and foster son, Albert (
Matthew Laborteaux), decide to employ Harriet's journalistic methods to hoist her on her own petard. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide