In fall 1915, Bryan eagerly starts his first year at Long Valley School. Will Duff, a former student of Pa's, is the new teacher. Fourth grader Don "Cotton" Walker takes Bryan as his seatmate. Bryan loves learning -- his desk work, the older classes reciting at the front of the room, and older kids teaching recess games. Winter brings cold-weather games, chores, and a tragedy to Bryan and the community. Spring follows, with the births of farm animals and an all-boys' Easter dinner in the woods. With the warmer weather, Pa takes Oley, Herschel, and Bryan to a general store; homesteaders travel through the area, and a surveyor appears and disappears. Realizing the goal of the winter's trapping season, Oley and Herschel buy a new wagon for the boys with their fur-trading money. At the end of school, the boys take their first ride in a car.Bigger changes follow in Bryan's family as older siblings leave home, and Oley and Herschel take over for Pa's farm help. Bryan begins his second year at Long Valley, not a moment too soon for his desire to learn still more.