 Olivia is suddenly stricken down with polio, and is forced to take to her bed. The local doctor follows the accepted treatment of splints attached to Olivia s legs, but John-Boy searches for more than just accepting a lifetime of paralysis. While the community rallies behind Olivia, John-Boy travels to the University of Virginia and talks with a doctor on the faculty who describes a revolutionary treatment which John-Boy is anxious to have his mother try -- anything to avoid a lifetime in a wheelchair.