AllMovie

With Mrs. Beadle sidelined by a sprained ankle, Caroline (Karen Grassle) volunteers as substitute teacher. She immediately focuses on the tribulations of 15-year-old Abel Makay (played by Dirk Blocker, the son of Michael Landon's former Bonanza co-star Dan Blocker), who is too embarrassed to continue schooling because he can neither read nor write. With Caroline's help, Abel begins to struggle upward from his illiteracy -- until the supercilious Mrs. Oleson (Katherine MacGregor) humiliates the poor boy.