Ep 7. The Portrait

When Erin meets a young painter who recently came home from the war, she becomes restless with her life on Walton’s Mountain. After meeting Derek, Erin’s family and neighbors find him to be a puzzling individual with his distrusting behavior. As they grow closer, Derek calls Erin by his old girlfriend’s name, causing her to run, confused by his words. It doesn’t take long for Erin and the rest of the mountain to learn about him; after Derek gives Corabeth some paintings as collateral for goods in the store, she, Olivia, and Mary Ellen see how depressing they are. Mary Ellen soon learns that he is a psychiatric patient from a veteran’s hospital who refused medical treatment and then left. When she arrives home to tell the family about what they learn Erin is gone. When they find her with Derek, he breaks down and tells them what he saw in the war and soon goes back to the hospital. Elsewhere, Elizabeth and Jim Bob purchase a canary to give to Grandma as a pet, but are unable to make it sing.