Late fall. Half the herd returns early from the summer grazing grounds so the Kilchers drive the rest home across icy rivers. The family rushes to finish other winter prep work but still makes time for a beach-scavenged gourmet picnic.
Otto gets creative to beat the frozen soil when he realizes he must move the outhouse, now! Eivin takes Eve on her first deer hunt on Afognak Island, which is teeming with wild animals including awake bears. Atz and sons gather trees for a big new project.
Otto pulls porcupine quills out of a colt's tender nose. With Eivin's legal quota met, it's up to Eve to bring home more deer meat from their hunting trip, but she's conflicted about the kill. Atz and Atz Lee snare rabbits; Jane gets a lesson in rabbit skinning.
The Kilchers race through the last few days of fall before winter finally hits, prepping the hunter and cattleman cabins, winterizing the bee hive, sorting the root cellar, bottling raspberry mead, and creating a new field with an excavator and barge.