Little House on the Prairie is about the Ingalls family, who move from their log home in the Wisconsin woods to what they call "Indian country."

In the first chapter the Ingalls family left their home in early spring, while the Mississippi River was still frozen. They needed to leave early in the year so that they could cross on the river ice. What would it be like to live in a time when a river could keep you from going where you wanted to go? Nowadays, we jump into our car or hop on a plane and we can get to just about anywhere we want in practically no time. It wasn't like that back then.