It must be 1936 in Jefferson County, VA, as The Waltons launches its fourth season. This much we can determine by the episode in which the Walton family clusters around its radio to hear the abdication of England's King Edward VIII -- and by the final episode of the season, wherein aspiring journalist John-Boy Walton (Richard Thomas) is urged by his former girlfriend Selina Linville (Kathleen Quinlan) to write about the Spanish Civil War...as an eyewitness. Other story developments include the long-awaited, oft-delayed wedding of Reverend Matthew Fordwick (John Ritter) and schoolteacher Rosemary Hunter (Mariclare Costello); John-Boy's first professional writing job as a cub reporter, a frustrating assignment that prompts him to consider launching his own local newspaper; the first tentative steps by John-Boy's sister Mary Ellen (Judy Norton Taylor) towards becoming a nurse; a later confrontation between Mary Ellen and Grandma (Ellen Corby) when the old lady demands that the girl participate in the traditional rite-of-passage "quilting;" brother Jim-Bob's (David W. Harper) startling discovery that he was one of a set of twins, and that his lookalike sibling died at birth; brother Ben's (Eric Scott) spiteful decision to take a job at a rival lumber mill after an argument with his dad John (Ralph Waite); and the raging fire which destroys much of the Walton home -- and completely incinerates John-Boy's unfinished novel. ~ All Movie Guide