Adaptational Nice Guy: While Caroline is more stern and does show contempt for the Indians at the beggining, she eventually grow out of the latter and comes to respect the Osage, whereas book!Caroline never changed her view of Native Americans. Also, Charles hopes that they can coexist with the Indians at the territory, whereas book! Charles, while sympathetic to them, was counting on them being removed from the land and leave the space free for white settlers like himself.
Based on a True Story: The original pilot movie is far more true to Laura Ingalls Wilder's original Little House on the Prairie books than the series. Among the many events that also made it to this TV movie: the family's meeting of Mr. Edwards, and Mary saving her peppermint stick for later while Laura eats hers right away.
Defrosting Ice Queen: Caroline, whose personality is more sugar and ice towards Mr. Edwards, whom he sees as uncouth and a bad influence, but changes her view after he walks several miles in the cold snow to deliver them Christmas presents, and later towards the Indians she saw with contempt and prejudice before they showed a more reasonable side and allowed the family to stay undisturbed, before the government told them to leave.
Dramatization: Although true to the books, several aspects of the movie are dramatized, particularly the dynamic between Charles and Caroline Ingalls. Although the real-life Charles and Caroline were loyal and faithful to one another in real life, their relationship had a hierarchy more typical of the post-Civil War era than the contemporary husband-wife relationship seen in the movie … and later, the series.
Early-Installment Weirdness: Charles is quite harsh at times towards both Caroline and the girls compared to his attitude in the series. Again, this is more in line with his book version.
Truer to the Text: As said above, Charles and Caroline's more stern, if caring personalities towards their daughters are closer to their book characterizations, as well as the more realism-grounded tone in contrast with the melodramatic tone of the show.
