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Private Notes
It is 1933, during the Depression, and being Christmas Eve, the Walton family are in the midst of their Christmas preparations and hoping to celebrate it together. The problem is that there are many events which seem to prevent John Walton (Daddy) from arriving home to share this Christmas with his family. The majority of the film then has Olivia wishing and hoping that he will make it home, the children rushing to the door to see if the noises they hear are their Daddy, and John-Boy heading out into the snowy night to try to find him. Eventually Daddy walks through the door, and the first Walton Christmas "miracle" has occurred. We are also introduced to the little old ladies, the Baldwin sisters, the makers of bootleg whiskey, a venture that doesn't go down at all well with Olivia. We learn that John-Boy writes down all his secret thoughts, but tries to keep this from his parents, especially his father. He wants to go to University but feels that there is no way that his family could afford to send him.
The real-life 'John-Boy Walton' (Earl Hamner, Jr.), whose voice-overs narrated "The Waltons" televison series for nearly a decade makes a special appearance as himself and the On-Screen Narrator in this 2-hour special. This drama and quasi-documentary is built around a new story informally titled "Grandma's Birthday" and features many flashback scenes and highlights from the TV series. The family plans a surprise birthday party for Grandma Esther Walton and puts together a photo album of precious photographs as a gift for her to unwrap at the party. The narrator walks in and out of scenes as if he were invisible or perhaps as the ghost of an absent John-Boy. Historical black-and-white footage from the Great Depression and Dust Bowl era is inserted within the special as a very brief documentary. Actress Ellen Corby's triumph over a stroke in real life is celebrated using flashbacks of her TV role as Grandma overcoming a similar stroke. By having the actors say good-night to one another around the supper table while using their real-life first names, a touching tribute is paid to the late Will Geer (a.k.a. Grandpa) who began the tradition of saying Grace at the same table. Other special treats include Mr. Hamner introducing the Walton-children cast members to their real-life counterparts (the Hamner siblings) via a cross-country split screen. We also get to travel on-location to the narrator's real-life hometown of Schuyler, Virginia, to enjoy the beauty of nature in the snow-covered foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains along the Rockfish River. Mr. Hamner pays respects at his daddy's grave site, and he even treats the viewers to a trip to his boyhood home on Tree Top Loop where he interviews the woman who inspired the character of Olivia Walton, his very own mother -- Doris Hamner.
Erin Walton is considering marrying her boyfriend Paul. Her old boyfriend, Ashley, who left her to marry someone else but is recently widowed, would like to get Erin back, but Paul is not going to give her up so easily. Then there's Mary Ellen's boyfriend, Jonesy, who is a veterinarian trying to establish a practice, but nobody thinks he is competent. And Ben, who has been minding the lumber business while their father is with their ailing mother in Arizona, is having some problems and everybody's worried that he's digging himself a hole that he might not get out of.
Mary Ellen marries Jonesy but they don't exactly have a good start. While on their honeymoon, she suffers an accident that leaves her unable to bear children. She then shuts everyone, even Jonesy, out. She then decides to go to the one person who could understand what she's going through, her mother, who is in Arizona recuperating.
Third Waltons reunion movie has most of the family split up on the days approaching Thanksgiving, c. 1946. But most of the family begins to arrive at Walton's Mountain beginning with John-Boy recovering from a case of writers block in New York followed by Jason now a struggling musician as well as John Walton who tries to get everyone together for the special event for Elizabeth, while newlyweds Erin and Paul plan to move out of the Walton homestead.
Fourth Waltons reunion TV movie is now set in the 1960s which has John-Boy still living in New York, trying to persuade his fiancée to marry him. Meanwhile, Ben and Cindy's daughter, Virginia, has died and Cindy is finding life very lonely without her. She tells Ben that she would dearly love to adopt another baby, but Ben feels that it is not a good idea. Also Ben is arguing with his father about their lumber company for he wants to buy a new truck, but John keeps insisting that they can't afford it. Elsewhere, Erin now has three children and is separated from Paul. Her decision to start seeing another man causes some indignation among the other Walton family members. Ike and Corabeth become grandparents when Aimee has a little baby daughter, while Elizabeth returns from Europe and reunites with Drew, her old beau.
The fifth Waltons TV movie is set in 1964 has John-Boy Walton planning his wedding to Janet Gilchrist, the editor of a New York fashion magazine and the daughter of a diplomat. The two of them plan a small wedding and he invites the family and friends from Walton's Mountain to come to New York for the celebration. But Janet's Aunt Flo has other ideas and begins to take over their wedding preparations. Added to the wedding plan stress, John-Boy is also trying to write an article about his Grandma, but decides that he needs to go home to escape the wedding preparations, as well as to reunite with his Grandmother and fill in some gaps leaving Janet in New York trying to prevent her wedding from getting out of hand. But she too leaves the city and heads for Walton's Mountain to plan their wedding there. Meanwhile, Olivia has decided that the time is right for her to return to school and she enrolls in a class at Boatwright University. Being a married woman, with a family, returning to study makes her lecturer wonder why she is there and he makes her time in his class very difficult. Also, John has his problems when he's been elected as a County Supervisor and the lumber company which he and Ben run stands to profit if he votes for a proposed subdivision to go ahead. By this time Elizabeth's boyfriend Drew is also working at the mill and Jason's very pregnant wife Toni goes through a series of false alarms as her due date draws near.
The sixth Waltons reunion movie is set in 1969 and features John-Boy as a TV news anchor in New York in the throes of writing a new book. He and a very pregnant Janet are making plans to return to Walton's Mountain for the celebration of John and Olivia's 40th wedding anniversary. Accompanying them to see the place John-Boy lived as a child is Aurora, a Time magazine photographer, who is doing a story on John-Boy. Meanwhile, Elizabeth arrives back from her travels and announces to Drew, who is still working at the mill with Ben, that she is back to stay. She is very upset to find that Drew did not wait for her, and that he has a new girlfriend. Also, problems arise for John-Boy and Janet because the longer John-Boy stays on the mountain, the more he becomes convinced that he would like to settle down there, raise his family, and continue with his writing whereas Janet wants to stay in New York.
John Boy and his family prepare for John Sr. homecoming to spend Christmas together, but after a storm comes in the way, John Boy has to find his father and the journey through it will change his life forever. A remake of The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (1971).
The Walton family enthusiastically prepares for the annual Harvest Festival Fair on Walton's Mountain in 1934, but a young boy's arrival dramatically changes their lives.
