An old gentleman with a large white beard walks up to the house while some of the Walton children are relaxing outside on the picnic table. Elizabeth greets him and learns that he is a Walton. She invites him to sit with the others for some lemonade. Zadok lives near Big Spruce Knob in Boone County about 44 miles away as the crow flies. He says that he is to meet a man who invited him but then forgets who he was talking about when asked and instead says he’s here to meet their Grandpa Zeb. Mary Ellen comes outside with John Curtis and informs him that their Grandpa died 3 years back. Zadok takes John Curtis into his arms and asks where Zeb is resting. John arrives home and immediately recognizes Cousin Zadok and tells his children that Zadok is Zeb’s cousin. Zadok says he will stay long enough for the picnic he and Grandpa planned back in 1923. Grandpa had promised that if he was not back in 20 years for a visit Zadok was to come to Walton’s Mountain for a picnic.
Cousin Zadok pulls apple’s out of his travel bag and hands them to Jim-Bob in the kitchen to share with the family. He notices the telephone near John’s desk and says to Jim-Bob that there is a fella after him and that he rings that telephone he will come and talk on it. Jim-Bob asks what he is after him for. Zadok says his land and apples. John comes downstairs and says they need to find Zadok a bed but he wants to sleep in the barn on the hay like he did when he was young.
Late that night at the Walton house John hears a fiddle being played up on the mountain. He gets dressed and goes outside, Jim-Bob joins him. John says that he remembers that tune from when he was little like John Curtis.
The next morning in the kitchen Zadok says that Erin reminds him of another red-haired lady he was enamored with when he was 5 years old, Zeb’s mother Ann-sula Walton. He says that all the red hair comes from her. Mary-Ellen comes downstairs in a rush for work with no plan for John-Curtis’s care. Zadok offers to look after him which she accepts.
Later on the porch John and Elizabeth try Zadok’s apples. He says that he has 12 different apples growing on 1 tree. They don’t believe him.
Elizabeth tells her Daddy that Cousin Zadok took her and Jim-Bob up to the old chimney ruins of Rome and Rebecca’s cabin. She says that he could remember everything about how they had it but then couldn’t remember Jim-Bob or Elizabeth’s names. Erin reports in the kitchen that Zadok is deaf in his left ear and and has a weakness for well favored redheads. She says that he has gone down to see how the Godsey store has changed since 1908.
Corabeth is curious where Cousin Zadok’s unusually name came from and he says “First Kings and Second Samuel”. He was named after a high priest during the time of King David and King Solomon. Zadok says that he left these parts in 1880 for a farm he inherited from his mother’s side near Big Spruce. John arrives looking for Zadok who has disappeared and a local outside says that he showed a lost driver the way to Westham. John finds him outside of Boatwright University. Zadok is surprised to have learned that they have a whole building just to teach farming. He was also jokingly offered an honorary degree but they are reserved for people who donate football fields to the school. When they arrive home he trips on the front step and gets very upset. Later, the family talks about their concerns that Zadok is either losing his mental capacity or is close to death.
Back at home Mary Ellen finds John Curtis sweating in his crib and Zadok asleep in the napping chair. She finds a concoction he made on the stove and wakes him for an explanation, Zadok says he gave him some catnip tea and riddleweed root. She thinks he poisoned her baby but he says he will be as right as Moses.
That night John hears the fiddle again. The family wakes and finds him playing near hot springs. John asks what he is doing and Zadoc says he is saying goodbye to an old friend.
A car pulls up outside. Arthur Harrington a lawyer from Charlottesville has arrived to speak with Zadok. Seated in the back is Dean Beck and Professor Bohannon from the School of Agriculture at Boatwright University. They go inside to discuss the specifics of an arrangement where Zadok will upon the event of his death gift his 21 acres of land property, buildings and orchard to the University. At the end of their meeting John invites the visitors to the picnic for Zadok.
The family celebrates in the front yard. Zadok makes a speech to say how he has liked everyone he has met on this visit. He also states that he has as of that very morning given away nearly all of his earthy possessions except for one. Ha asks Jason to had him his fiddle. It is 108 years old and originally built by his Grand Daddy Rome Walton. To make sure that it doesn’t end up in the hands of just anyone in his family he gives it to John who then hands it to Jason, the musician in the family. Zadok asks Jason if he could play “Rosin the Beau”. The family joins in and when they finish Zadok jumps up and jigs to Jason’s new fiddle.
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