Home Improvement for Beginners

John joins Uncle and Charles beside a campfire outside the derelict shack at Beecher's Hope. With Abigail and Jack gone, Uncle questions John's prospects and calls the place a poor foundation for the life he wants. John listens as Uncle abandons his pessimism long enough to offer a solution: the shack has to come down.

Uncle and Charles fasten ropes between the shack and the horses. John takes part as the animals pull, tearing the old building apart and leaving the site cleared. The three men stand among the wreckage of the home John had bought for his family.

Uncle says that a man in Blackwater can provide a pre-cut house. John decides to visit him on his own, while Uncle and Charles remain at Beecher's Hope to keep watch over the property.