Hills of Home

Dr. William MacLure, a Scottish doctor, adopts Lassie and learns she has an unusual aversion to water. He begins to study her reactions and search for a way to help her overcome the fear. Lassie's condition becomes a through-line in life in the Glen.

The locals resist the idea of using chloroform to treat Lassie and to aid medical procedures. The doctor faces skepticism from villagers who cling to older methods. This opposition creates tension around his experimental approach.

To demonstrate chloroform's safety, MacLure administers it to Lassie and has her sleep for more than twenty minutes. The experiment is controversial, but it provides tangible proof of the method's power. Lassie wakes unharmed, yet the dispute over its use remains.

In a dire emergency, the doctor uses chloroform to perform a life-saving operation on Tammas Milton at his own house. The successful procedure earns grudging respect from some villagers and helps quiet the early opposition. It secures Tammas's life and cements the doctor's standing in the Glen.

As payment for saving Tammas, Tammas's father, a friend of Lassie's former owner, promises to send the young man to a four-year medical course in Edinburgh. This arrangement ensures a future flow of trained doctors to the Glen and helps secure the doctor’s legacy.

Tammas recovers and is sent away to Edinburgh to begin his studies. The plan is that he will return to help take over the Glen's medical work in the future.

Meanwhile the elderly doctor continues treating patients in the Glen, but his advancing age makes the locals worry about the future of care in the valley. As his health declines, doubt grows about who will assume responsibility when he can no longer practice.

On a snowy night, the doctor is called out and travels home on his horse. He dozes off, and a tree branch knocks him into the snow, endangering his life.

After the accident Lassie bravely crosses a damaged bridge over a flood-swollen river to fetch help and returns with two men, but the bridge has been washed away. The river's danger isolates the doctor further. The climactic need to save him intensifies the bond between Lassie and her keeper.

With MacLure in danger, Lassie dives into the raging river to reach the other side. She fights a whirlpool and is nearly pulled under, finally succeeding on her second attempt. The two men wade into the waist-deep water to reach him.

The rescuers bring MacLure home and he remains unconscious for several days. Despite occasional moments of awakening, his strength never returns, and his condition worsens.

A few days later, after a fragile recovery seems possible, he dies. The town mourns the loss of the doctor who cared for generations.

His funeral is attended by all in the Glen, a somber farewell to a beloved figure. Lassie remains a symbol of loyalty in the community as the chapter closes.

A new doctor arrives in the Glen, having passed his exams, and steps into MacLure's role to tend the valley's patients. He begins to lead the town into a new era of medical care.