In the small town of Pyramid Corners, Oklahoma, Millicent Torkelson is struggling to raise her five children with no money after her husband abandoned the family. While she's busy trying to put food on the table, the kids are often getting into and out of trouble in ways that test her patience. Elderly loner Wesley Hodges pays for room and board to help them out, and becomes a quasi-family member before long.
A homespun family led by a single mom tries to get by, but teenage daughter Dorothy Jane isn't thrilled when her mom's forced to take in a border to make ends meet.
Dorothy Jane hopes for a fairy-tale resolution to a school-dance, but she has no dress, no date, and Riley, her Prince Charming next door, seems oblivious.
Dorothy Jane would like a romance between Millicent and the new pastor but when he comes calling, its only to report that Steven Floyd nearly turned a hayride into a roll in the hay.
Millicent deems it necessary to be regularly employed, giving Dorothy Jane the job of looking after the other kids.
A blackmailing Ruth Ann reveals Dorothy Jane's private poems of passion to the world, but the unveiling ends up emboldening lovelorn Dorothy Jane.
Dorothy Jane wants desperately to bid adieu to Oklahoma and say bonjour to Paris, and she might, if she's selected the winner in a student-exchange competition.
Randall Torkelson blows in from Texas after more than a year away, but his arrival is an ill wind to Dorothy Jane, and she may be the last gasp of his marriage to Millicent.
Pastor Langley and his assistant will be guests for Thanksgiving, prompting Dorothy Jane to push Millicent to play up her femininity.
Wesley's estranged former daughter-in-law who, along with his granddaughter, is reunited with Wesley thanks to some goodhearted butting in by Millicent.
Millicent stands up for the American way, and the right to sell homemade pickled goods, by insisting on operating her annual roadside stand without a license.
Steven Floyd goes to bat for Millicent by beating up a school big mouth - but she doesn't know that until after she's chewed him out and he's run away.
Millicent had her reasons for not finishing high school, but there's no good reason why she couldn't take an equivalency exam now.
Radio "Love Professor" Kitty Drysdale wires into the affairs of Dorothy Jane and Millicent's hearts and jump-starts their dating lives.
Dorothy Jane resolves to become the kind of girl who makes guys melt, and she looks to the school's resident ice princess for guidance.
Never was there a story of more woe (except maybe one) than of Dorothy Jane's trial playing Juliet in the school play opposite her Romeo, Riley Roberts.
Dorothy Jane and Millicent get a double dose of relentless wooing by two Scroggins men - Kirby and his big-talkin' uncle, who takes a liking to Millicent.
Randall Torkelson returns with a big hello for Millicent and the kids, but Dorothy Jane is fretting over college-bound Riley, who didn't say goodbye.
Dorothy Jane and Kirby learn parenthood isn't all it's cracked up to be when a school assignment requires them to care for an egg.
Dorothy Jane is exposed to the perils of popularity when she throws a party to increase her social standing, but leaves a new friend standing out in the cold.
Millicent's aunt leaves her a diverse inheritance...and lots of unanswered questions.