 While scouting lumber for their mill, Grandpa and John Boy come across surveyors who tell them a lumber company has claimed timer rights to the mountain. Finding that their ancestors never bothered to file for a legal deed to their land, the Waltons must come up with $200 to pay court costs in order to protect their birthright. Everyone pitches in to raise the money, including John Boy who moves to Wheeling in order to get a job and send money home.