Miss Dove returns to the present when Dr. Baker (Robert Stack) and Rev. Burnham arrive and form a seat with their arms to carry her from school through the streets of Liberty Hill to the hospital. She is admitted to her room by a former student, Billie Jean (Peggy Knudsen), who chatters incessantly along the way. Billie Jean, who left Liberty Hill and had a child out of wedlock, has returned to her hometown and is smitten with a police officer named Bill Holloway (Chuck Connors). Miss Dove fondly recalls Bill and tells Billie Jean that he was one of her best pupils. In a flashback, she remembers how he arrived to her classroom, a poor, unkempt boy being raised by his alcoholic grandmother. Over the years, Miss Dove gave Bill odd jobs and even bought him a suit for his grammar school (eighth grade) graduation. As Bill entered the Marines, he wrote to Miss Dove often, and when he returned to Liberty Hill, she was the first person he came to for advice about his future career.