An injured man, hurt in a car accident, is brought to the farm. He mutters something about hitting a collie with his car--and Lassie is acting strangely.
The parents of a blind veteran try to buy Lassie--the young man's own collie Lassie has died and they do not want to tell him the truth, fearing he will slip into depression again.
The church is holding a father-son event and Jeff doesn't want Gramps to fill in for his dad. Jeff is then even more embarrassed when Ellen decides to accompany him instead.
Ellen offers the boys a special treat if they will babysit a boy while she is called out on an errand. But the kid turns out to be more than Jeff and Porky can handle.
After Lassie is suspected of having rabies, she's about to be taken to the pound--but Jeff runs away with her. Clay: Richard Garland. Brockway: Paul Maxey.
Jeff shows a dog trainer at the fair Lassie's tricks--and thinking she can be a headliner for them, the man and his partner steal her. Clay: Richard Garland.
A radio producer hears Ellen singing at church and offers her a job singing on radio--but she and Jeff must take an apartment in the city and leave Lassie with Gramps to do it.
Jeff thinks Lassie needs a vet when her time comes, but a storm is brewing and Gramps says dogs can cope. Dr. Wilson: Frank Ferguson. Mrs. Wilson: Frances Morris.
With Gramps and Ellen away for the day, Jeff and Porky plan a lazy day--until an escaped circus lion invades the farm. Worse, no one will believe them when they call for help.
When Gramps quarrels with Matt Brockway after a hotly contested checker game, both men forbid their sons to play with each other. After Jeff and Porky's first attempt to fix the problem goes horribly wrong, so the boys hide in the woods in hopes that in "saving" them Gramps and Matt will be friends again.moreless
Jeff wants to learn to use his father's gun, but Ellen is terrified of him being exposed to a firearm, although Gramps thinks he should learn to use it.
Gramps, feeling a little guilty over ignoring Jeff in the past, brings home a colt for him. Jeff names the horse Domino and is quite enthusiastic about having a horse to the point that he starts ignoring Lassie.
Jeff is failing math at school due to his ongoing problems with fractions. Ellen tells him that unless he gets his grades up, Jeff won't be allowed to go to the cicus.