This episode is hard to swallow; it's such a cheesey rip-off of Johanna Spyri's classic tale, Heidi. The story wasn't disguised in the least. The girl Gabrielle, who was recently orphaned wants desperately to be with her grumpy old grandfather and sets out in the snow to find him. Being true to the classic character he is a hermit and desires only to be left alone. But Gabrielle is determined to show that he needs her, even managing to mend her grandfathers clothes though she was blind. An annoying touch was the goat with a bell that followed him around, right up to the door of the ranch house.

It is out of character for the group from the Ponderosa to be a part of this fairy tale, even if it is a holiday story.