Bonanza

Greedy opportunist Mark Burdette and his accomplice Early Thorne stir up trouble between the Paiute tribe and the citizens of Virginia City. Ben discovers Burdette and Thorne are selling antelope beef to the miners and finds the price too high. He offers the miners beef at a more reasonable price. Burdette and Thorne retaliate by framing the Paiutes for attacks, by dressing as them and killing ranchers. Based on a factual accounting. Lorne Greenes first voice-over narration, and no landing constructed yet for the Ponderosa stairway.

Trader Mike Wilson attempts to escape punishment by the Paiute Indians after mistreating two of their women, by placing the blame on Adam. A fierce war between the Paiutes and the California militia follows, and the Paiutes seize Adam as hostage. Very impressive battle scenes in the this first mini-epic of the series. This episode did all it could to stage the real thing; 50 Indians were used and 50 cavalry actors and extras were used, and the production involved three days of shooting on location. This episode encompassed both the biggest cast and most costly stunts. This episode is based on the factual accounting that occured in May and June of 1860.

Little Joe is infatuated wih saloon owner Julia Bulette, whom he imagines is like his late mother. First episode to reveal backround details concerning Marie Cartwright, and inspired by the true story of a Virginia City madam. Also, the first episode to showcase Michael Landon.

Adam and Hoss assist a German engineer in developing the concept of "square set timbering" in the mines. Based on fact, and the first episode not to include all four Cartwrights. Hoss refers to the character, Emily, with whom he was in love with in, "The Newcomers".

Virginia City is visited by actress Adah Issacs Menken, who happens to be an old acquaintance of Bens. Joe is badly beaten by Adahs jealous suitor, John C. Regan, who is bested in a fight with an enraged Hoss.

Adam and Joe reluctantly join a group of vengeful townsmen, who are out to lynch the three men who supposedly killed Vannie Johnson. The posse is run by Paiute Scroggs and Flint Johnson, the dead womans husband. When Adam and Joe clash with them, they both separate and try to reach the three men before the posse does. This episodes storyline is a variation of the 1943 film "The Ox-Bow Incident".

This episode begins with Adam defending the honor of Sue Ellen Terry in a duel. No one gets shot because the other man misses Adam and Adam generously shoots in the air to end the duel. Sue Ellen lives with her sister, who seems nice but turns out to be fairly evil, consumed with jealousy because shes getting older and her sister is a young beauty. When Adam drops Sue Ellen off after a date one night, half way through this episode, someone shoots her dead, and Adam becomes a suspect and is thrown in jail. When the sheriff suggests that Adam escape, he does it, but when he walks out, someone tries to shoot him. He chases after them but doesnt find them, and soon after hears Sue Ellens sister scream. He runs up the stairs to find her dead, and of course, is then suspected of that murder as well. Of course, his family helps him during the last half hour, and it all turns out that someone we should not have suspected did all the murders, but that he actually wasnt trying to hit

Ben sends Hoss and Joe to Monterey to purchase an expensive seed bull. The first of Blocker and Landons many comic misadventures, although the casual use of violence, as in the rapier fight, is oddly uncharacteristic for the series. Hoss reveals his real name to be Eric for the first time.

As the Civil War approaches, Adam and Joe clash over which side to support. The situation is complicated by the arrival of Frederick Kyle, a Southern sympathizer. He was an old friend of Joes mother and viewers also discover that Joes middle name is Francis.

The Cartwrights encounter racial bigotry in Virginia City and end up protecting a Chinese boy from mob violence. Victor Sen Yung, in his largest role to date, speaks normally in the presence of his fellow countrymen, but reverts to broken English when with the Cartwrights.

A shiftless sheepherder, Jeb Drummond, encroaches his herd of sheep on the Ponderosa and refuses to budge. He resists all of Bens attempts to throw him off his land and finally resorts to taking Adam prisoner in exchange for ownership of the ranch.

Nevada Territory is awaiting statehood, and Ben considers running for governor until he learns he is wanted for murder in New Orleans. Inspector Charles Leduque arrives and says Ben is wanted for commiting the murder 20 years earlier, and after Joe kills his bodyguard in self-defense, Inspector Leduque makes it appear the other way around. Ben has no choice but go with Leduque, to clear his name in a very suspense-filled episode. Once again, there are several references to Joes mother, and viewers are shown Maries grave near the shore of Lake Tahoe.

A restaurant owner whom Ben and Adam have confronted over stolen Ponderosa beef ends up dead one night. His daughter, Sally Byrnes runs the cafe and in her resentment, wrongfully accuses Ben and Adam of murdering her father and they are sentenced to hang. A rancher by the name of Hawkins is also jealous of the Cartwrights and has hired his men to stop the town from helping Ben and Adam, ensuring they hang. Hoss and Joe are willing to stop them, but Ben insists they stay within the limits of the law.

In this comic episode, the first to take place far from the ranch, Ben, Hoss, and Joe deliver a herd to San Francisco. Although he warns his sons to be careful in the big city ("This is not the Ponderosa!"), Ben is the one who is shanghaied and must be rescued.

Hoss takes Billy Allen, the young son of a convicted felon under his wing, then is forced to kill his father and Billy will not forgive him. The most emotional Hoss story since "The Newcomers" and one of Blockers best.

Virginia City is plagued by organized crime, Sam Bryant and his gang. One of his men, Farmer Perkins, kills a storekeeper, and at his trial, the wife of the store owner is afraid to testify. When Perkins is sentenced to hang, Bryant kidnaps Ben and wants to exchange Ben for Perkins, which leaves Adam with the most difficult decision of his life. A stellar cast.

Filmed almost entirely outdoors, this is more like a feature than a series. Captain Pender is looking for a scout to lead him and his company of men across the desert, along with a currency shipment they are carrying to another army fort. Charlie Trent, a former scout and now a drunk, still blames himself for his troops being led to massacre. Hoss sees that this is Charlies opportunity to redeem himself and win back his honor. Meantime, Captain Pender is having trouble with Cutter, another scout who is a devious and cunning bear of a man, who agreed to lead him across the desert, but Pender lets him go and with Hoss suggestion, Captain Pender agress to have Charlie be their scout.

The Cartwrights construct a grist mill to provide income for a crippled rancher who blames Ben for his predicament. Ben has to contend with the mans depraved caretaker, and finds himself attracted to his wife. "Sons cant be everything," Ben tells her.

While celebrating the return of his daughter Connie, former lawman McKee is asked to assist in the capture of an outlaw gang. While Joe is courting Connie, no one realizes that McKee is involved with the outlaws.

Hoss and Joe take their sweethearts to a colorful and strange carnival for the day. Joes recent girlfriend Jennifer Beale is abducted by the sinister owner, Philip Reed and his accomplice Gerner. Her father is Joshua Beale, the richest man in the Comstock. Gerner convinces Reed to hold her for a $1 million dollar ransom, and her father will gladly pay them to ensure her safe return. Reeds girlfriend Della Thompson is jealous of Jennifer and has second thoughts about the abduction. Hoss and Joe take notice of Jennifers disappearance and travel deep into the bowels of the carnival, meeting fierce resistance from the carnival people at every avenue. They come up without a trace of finding her.

Gunnar Borgstrom is the leader of a vicious band called the Commancheros. They burn houses, kill people and steal anything of value. When the Commancheros get to Nevada, Gunnar decides to visit his relatives, the Cartwrights. Meanwhile the gang capture Little Joe and his girlfriend. When Gunnar returns to the gang, he has no idea who Joe is because hed never met his nephew before.

Adams life is saved by a woman known to the Indians as White Buffalo Woman, but who is actually the daughter of Norwegian immigrants.

Hoss becomes friends with dull-witted Arnie Gurnie, who is a brute of a man with the mentality of a child. His temper scares everybody, including the Cartwrights.

Hoss plans to marry the widow of one of Bens friends, not knowing she is a compulsive gambler and refusing to believe it when the other Cartwrights confront him with the truth.

The Cartwright boys are surprised to find that a woman, claiming to have recently married their father, shows up on their doorstep. When Ben gets home, he is just as surprised as they are. Has the lady been swindled by a con-man, or is she something of a con-woman herself?

Adam goes to Mexico to find out how the son of a family friend was killed, only to learn the man is still alive.

The kindness Hoss extends to shiftless Jock Henry is not exactly repaid when Henry becomes an assistant assessor and raises the Ponderosas annual tax bill from $375 to $1700.

Adam is confused by the sudden behavior of his good friend, Ross Marquette. He beats up his wife, Delphine, after accusing her of having an affair with Adam. He also joins a group of rustlers and killers and helps rob a gold shipment. Adam thinks Ross is suffering from insanity, in this highlight of season two.

When freight company detective Jed Trask is fired after a decade of service, he joins the thieves preventing supplies from reaching Virginia City.

Jim Applegate, Hoss rival for the affections of Cameo Johnson, is a member of a vigilante group who lynched an innocent man and his wife.

With Virginia City on the verge of economic ruin, out of work miners put their hopes in word of a strike at a mine everybody believed was played out. Ben suspects the new owners have been stealing silver from an adjoining mine also thought dry, and resolves to prove it.

To finance his dream of constructing an airship capable of crossing the Atlantic, Bens old friend plans to rob the Virginia City bank while diverting the citizens attention with a hot air balloon.

Blacksmith Sam Hill fights to keep the land on which his mother is buried, after his drunken father signs the deed over to Colonel Tyson and his private army. Poetic episode written by John T. Kelley and directed by Robert Altman.

A friend of Bens (Mr. Milbank) arrives at the Ponderosa at a bad time...when the Cartwright boys are fighting in the mud. Mr. Milbank, who is injured by a flying log during the fight, gives an assignment to each of the three boys. Can they fulfill the assignments, or has Springtime gotten to them all?

Little Joe pays a visit to the widow Lee Bolden, and brings her a bank draft for her husbands investments with Ben. Actually, the investments were losing propositions. Ben just wanted to help out his friend. During his visit, a wounded man stumbles into the house, and Joe recognizes him as Trock, who had just robbed the local bank. Lee Bolden was a nurse to her husband physician, and removes the bullet from Trock. Joe soon learns that Lee is in love with Trock, and that is the only thing standing between him and an early grave.

Adam tries to help a reformed gunman who wants only to live peacefully near Virginia City. Good story without a tidy ending. Pernells first chance to sing on the series.

Joe befriends and takes responsibility for an ex-convict named Danny. Danny loves horses and is not used to peoples ways on the outside of jail. Will his rough jailhouse upbringing mar any hopes of friendship?

A professional wrangler working for the Cartwrights is paralyzed when thrown by a particularly mean bronco. The woman nursing him was once engaged to the late son of a neighboring rancher out to get Ben.

An irritating man who boasts of being the reincarnation of French poet Francois Villion shows up causing trouble for the Cartwrights.

In this Christmas story, inspired by Johanna Spyris "Heidi", Hoss and Joe come across a blind girl whose family has been killed in a wagon wreck, learning later that her grandfather is a bitter hermit who spent 21 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.

Hoss plans to marry Margie, a pretty blonde, but Margie becomes fascinated with a tall, traveling stranger named Mark Connors. Margie marries Mark but soon finds it was far from a match made in heaven.

Adam races against the clock to prove a man who was once his friend is guilty of robbery and murder and Adam is convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt he is guilty.

The Cartwrights pretend the Ponderosa belongs to the town lush, when his aging mother from Ireland arrives.

Adam gives a second chance to a family man he suspects is one of the rustlers who has been hitting the Ponderosa herds.

In order to keep peace on the ranch, Hoss and Joe try to help ranch hand, Hank Meyers woo the the plain-looking schoolteacher, Abigail Jones. When their first plan backfires, they convince Adam (who doesnt want to get involved) to help and this makes things worse because Abigail believes it is Adam who is wooing her and Hank Meyers believes Adam wants to steal her away.

A young genius, Albert Michaelson, vies for a scholarship. Adam assists Albert in the boys experiments. Albert only needs the school teachers approval to be granted a scholarship-which will be very difficult to get considering Albert was expelled from school.

Adam is left to die in the desert after two thieves take $5,000 and his horse from him. Near death, he stumbles into an old prospector named Kane who offers to lend him a mule and supplies in exchange for three days work at his mine. Kane, however, turns out to be a demented madman. He holds Adam prisoner and tortures him to prove his theory that anyone could be driven to kill, even a man as rational as Adam. This is Pernell Roberts favorite episode along with "The Wooing Of Abigail Jones".

When two feuding families argue over the custody of two orphaned children, a reluctant Ben is called upon to straighten out the situation before real trouble erupts.

Ben, Joe and Adam travel to Bowleg to pay the yearly taxes on the Ponderosa. After the transaction is completed, Ben and Joe ride over the summit to join the cattle drive. Adam is on his way to Genoa and is carrying a $10,000 bank draft his father has given him. A prison guard rides into town and announces two hombres have broke out and escaped who are holdup men and killers. Elmer Trace and his partner Poindexter were assisted by a guard in escaping prison and they betray him on the trail. Trace takes his clothes, horse and firearms, leaving Poindexter with only a rifle and rides off. Meanwhile, the Sheriff of Bowleg organizes a posse immediately.

Hoss blames himself when a young woman is crippled in a wagon accident, and hopes a faith healer can help her walk again.

Determined to prove he can succeed at something without the help of his Pa, Hoss, and Adam, Joe sets out on his quest and wins a timber contract for Ponderosa timber, and later discovers that having a family to rely on can definitely be an asset.

Hoss is jailed for robbing the bank in Dutchman Flats, a town on the brink of economic collapse, even the sheriff knows he is innocent, but a lynch mob gathers and Hoss fate is not good.

With a storm brewing, Adam takes refuge at a way station, run by cantankerous Jesse and his young grandaughter Marty, who yearns to see what exists away from the way station. The station is also visited by Luke Martin, a killer who is running from a posse. He makes Marty an empty promise to take her with him and see the world together, but Adam steps in and suggests Luke let her alone. Everybody but Marty is relieved to see him go, but he quickly returns and holds everyone hostage to protect himself from the posse.

Hoss volunteers to pickup an injured neighbors mail-order bride, but by the time they return, she has fallen in love with Hoss and a price is put on Hoss head.

The Ponderosa becomes a war zone when it is invaded by a detachment of Mexican mercenaries under General Diaz. The general is furious when one of his men, Forsythe, disobeys his orders to get a hostage peacefully, and instead shoots Little Joe in the back. Diaz forces Ben to lead his men over the back roads of the Ponderosa, so they can ambush a gold train led by Emperor Maximilians men.

Hoss is seriously injured internally and Ben seeks help from the only doctor within 50 miles, who happens to be in prison for murder. Ben talks to the judge, and with some convincing, talks him into letting the doctor look at Hoss. Danny, who works for the Doctor, tells Ben what he saw about the murder. Ben discovers what really happened and proves to the judge that the doctor really is innocent. The judge stops the hanging and Hoss survives.

When Hoss is responsible for causing a hung jury, Ben tells him, "a man is never wrong doing what he thinks is right", and Adam attempts to validate his brothers reasonable doubt.

Adams guitar-strumming friend, ranch hand Danny Morgan, is arrested on suspicion of murdering and robbing the Widow Baker. Someone had reported hearing Danny singing outside her place at the time of the murder. More, importantly, Morgan has bad scratches on his arm, and the widow was found with human skin under her fingernails. Adam is thoroughly convinced that Danny couldnt have done it; the two became friends after Danny saved Adams life a few years ago.

In this entertaining episode, laced with humor, Hoss first meets mountain man Jim Leyton. Bing Russell makes his first appearance as Deputy Clem Foster.

When Cochise falls on Joe, Ben cannot help but remember that is how Marie Cartwright was killed. He thinks back to meeting her in New Orleans in a rather confusing story not quite in synch with details discussed in "The First Born".

Joe becomes romantically involved with a woman who considers herself a serious dramatic actress. Unfortunately, she is the only one who does.

Adam takes a shine to Rebecca Kaufman, the daughter of a Jewish peddler, and bandits are convinced the Kaufman wagon is worth robbing.

Classic comedy in which Hoss first meets prospector Obie and his lazy but allegedly brilliant mongrel dog, Walter.

While hunting for a wolf, Joe is attacked by the wolf. Adam also hunting for the wolf, hears Joe struggling with the wolf comes to Joes aid. He fires his rifle but the bullet hits Joe. Adam hurries over knocks the wolf off Joe, shoots, and then kills the wolf. The damage has already been done with the wolf bite and Adams bullet in Joe. Adam has to rush his little brother back to the Ponderosa. Will he make it back to save Little Joes life, since the wolfs bite is fatal?

Hoss becomes concerned for the welfare of an insecure, belligerent fellow who is as small as Hoss is large. Interesting blend of comedy and pathos that ends unpredictably.

Claude Miller, the laughingstock of Virginia City, gets even with everyone who made fun of him when he strikes it rich.

When a Italian immigrant comes to the Ponderosa, he decides he wants to give up the guitar to become a cowboy.

Renowned English novelist Charles Dickens comes to Virginia City. In short order, he is accused of a crime he didnt commit. The problem then becomes how to convince the stubborn author to defend himself.

Joe is bushwhacked in the desert and awakens to find himself in Martinville, a town that may or may not be populated by ghosts. An errie, surrealistic and well-produced episode.

Hoss and a pair of nuns, the younger one having a difficult time training for the order, are robbed and stranded at a way station.

Ben finds an old journal that he kept while in a wagon train travelling from St. Joseph, Missouri to Ash Hollow. As he is reading it Ben remembers the journey he undertook with his wife Inger and a young Adam. During the trip Hoss is born and they have trouble with some Indians.

Adam becomes involved with the recently widowed Laura Dayton and her little girl, Peggy.

In what is arguably the best comedy of the series, Hoss swears he has seen green elves running around the Ponderosa and a smooth-talking Irishman complicates matters even worse.

Joe and Adam protect a saloon girl, who has killed in self-defense, from an angry lynch mob. The accompanying Judge, along with his wife, takes a liking to Lila, and before it is all over, he and Lila discover much more about themselves.

Bens plans to marry Katherine Saunders are upset when her son Eden is accused of killing his former girlfriend.

The new stranger in town claims to be the famous pirate Jean Lafitte, and Hoss believes him.

While out hunting for a mountain lion, Joe accidently shots Tessa Caldwell causing her to go blind. As a result of his guilt, Joe ends up proposing to the girl. However, other circumstances arise that cause Tessa to make a rash decision - one that both her and Joe may regret in the future.

While talking with an Indian, Ben is given an unexpected present...a woman. She is a young white woman named Joan who has lived with the Indians since she was a little girl. Through a humorous learning experience, Ben tries to teach Joan how to behave like a white woman. In the process, Ben finds himself in an awkward situation.

The town council feels Roy Coffee can no longer do his job, and with the notorious Wagner gang on their way to rob the bank, everyone is in a panic. Ben and Adam disagree with the town council and do what they can to help Roy out.

The Cartwrights are visited by their second cousin, Muley Jones of Weedville, Missouri who sings with a window-shattering voice and stirs up trouble with Indian negotiations that Ben is trying to ensure.

A headstrong Chinese girl (Marlo Thomas) visiting the Cartwrights incites labor unrest among local workers.

After a triumphant tour in Europe, a famous Negro singer encounters racial prejudice in Virginia City when he arrives for a concert.

Laura Daytons Aunt Lil comes to visit and quickly decides its time she help the hesitant Adam propose to her favorite niece. Her plan is to make Adam jealous by using his cousin Will but it doesnt go exactly as planned.

Hilarious sequel to "Any Friend Of Walters" in which Obie leaves Walter in Hoss care. The three outlaws, Macy, Teague, and Willard, kidnap Walter and hold him for ransom, leaving Hoss and the returning Obie to rescue him, but matters turn out the other way.

Outlaws capture Ben and hide him in an abandoned mine, holding him for a ransom. The boys must come up with a plan to save him before its too late.

After inadvertantly falling into the river, Adam is rescued by Tom Wilson. Wilson has feelings for Sue Miller, which bring him into trouble after her father is killed.

Hoss hires Waldo as a ranch hand after keeping Waldo from killing himself. Hoss soon learns that Waldo is lousy at his job and only causes problems for everyone else due to his clumsiness. Although Hoss is willing to defend him, he soon finds out a secret about Waldo.

A conman heads into town and takes advantage of the Cartwrights with a fake land deal. The conman ends up staying in Virginia city to run an orphanage.

As payment for a performance in a circus, Joe and Hoss are given an elephant. They want to keep it but encounter opposition from Adam and Ben.

Little Joe convinces Ben to hire Harry Starr, a half-Indian who is accused by other ranchers of being a chronic horse thief. Joe sets out to prove the others wrong, but is the youngest Cartwrights trust misplaced?

A peaceful Indian is framed for the kidnapping of a young girl, a stunt which ends of tragedy.

On their way to prevent a young woman from encountering the renegade Indians, Joe and Tuck are captured, and in order to save them all, Joe must fight Sharp Tongue, who is the leader of the band who went to school with Joe as a youth.

Kellie Conrad dances and her father plays the fiddle to earn a living. Hoss feels a sense of guilt after he unintentionally hurts the arm that Kellies father uses to play the fiddle, in a saloon fight with some roughnecks. He gets them to stay at the Ponderosa while the girls father recuperates. While there, Ben introduces Kellie to his friend Paul Mandel, a ballet star before an explosion cut his dancing career short. Kellie persuades Paul to help her learn ballet. She soon comes to the realization that she loves both the ballet and Paul. She struggles inwardly to make a choice between her love of ballet and giving it all up for the love of her father.

Professor Klump and Amanda pull Hoss into their flying machine scheme. The ""Hoss-mobile"" doesnt seem to be destined for a great take-off.

The Cartwrights play host to Guido Borelli, a world renowed aerial acrobat who once saved Bens life in Italy. Borellis troup is beset by internal strife, and is performing in Virginia City.

While working as a substitute teacher, Adam uncovers an ugly secret about the territorys past that others prefer remain hidden.

One of Joes old girlfriends thinks he killed her husband so they could come together. Unfortunately, that is what her husbands twin brother also believes.

First Bens sons are making lots of noise, so he goes into town to sleep in the hotel. Then, various noises and things interrupt Bens sleep. Will he ever get his desired good nights rest?

Ladies man Lothario Larkin creates havoc whenever he hits Virginia City, so Roy Coffee orders him out of town. Naturally, Hoss takes him in.

The Ponderosa hands are upset when new hand George Whitman is hired on, it is rumored he is a jinx. Hoss tells George to ignore such foolishness, but a gypsy fortune teller says otherwise.

Hoss befriends a self-demeaning recluse named Patch, who makes the best apple pie Hoss has ever tasted. Hoss is so impressed with him, especially his pie, that he hires him to work on the Ponderosa. Ben, however, is unimpressed with Hoss new friend when the Cartwrights get into a gunfight with a mining outfit, and Patch cowers. He has a deepseeded fear of violence stemming from an incident in his teen years, but he knows in order to survive in the West, he must overcome it.

Ben helps a convict win a parole only to have the man later become the chief suspect in a bank robbery.

A mule skinner and his two sons are hired by Ben to transport nitroglycerin to California.

Ben is attracted to Sarah Reynolds, a member of a religious order led by her fanatical uncle. When she is accused of being a witch, the Cartwrights step in.

Ben must determine who is the rightful heir to a fortune that includes water rights vital to the Ponderosa.

Hoss and Joe find a woman abandoned by a wagon train because her gift of prophecy is considered a curse. "Wouldnt it be wonderful," says Ben, "if eveybody made a real effort to understand whatevers strange and unfamiliar rather to fear it and try to destroy it?"

The mother of a young outlaw condemned to hang, threatens to have her gangs hostages killed if her son is not set free. One of the hostages is Joe.

In this series highlight, little Michael Thorpe heads to the high country to ask God to spare his critically wounded father, believing he has found Him in the form of longtime fugitive Tom Cain.

Hoss finds a wounded young Indian on the prairie, who is torn between accepting the ways of the white man or returning to his old life.

Conclusion to the previous-weeks episode, where the Cartwrights provide needed assistance to the Pony Express.

While Sheriff Coffee is in Saint Louis, the Morrisey bunch decides to work off excess energy by wrecking the saloon in a violent spree. When Deputy Bill Harris tries to arrest them, they hit him on the head with a whiskey bottle, accidentally killing him. All of them get away except Cliff, who is put in jail. He refuses to say the names or locations of his friends. Mayor Garrett holds an emergency meeting of the Virginia City town council. They hire legendary lawman Wes Dunn, as the temporary sheriff. He is a humorless man who is determined to restore order in town. He beats Cliff almost to death to find out where his friends are, but Cliff will not say anything. Meanwhile, Hoss finds Chuck, a wounded gang member. When he tries to take Chucks gun away, he shoots Hoss. Joe goes with Dunn to find the other men. He thinks Dunn is a hero until he sees him murder one of the suspects in cold blood.

Not one, but three mail-order brides show up unexpectedly at the Ponderosa, all of them believing they are to marry Hoss.

Ben and Claire Armory fall in love, but their future is jeopardized by her disabled brother.

Young, adoring Wendy Daniels has come to Virginia City to meet up with her father, Taylor Daniels, who has been traveling on business for the last five years. Joe is attracted to Wendy, but he faces stiff competition for her affections. She idolizes her father and cannot stop talking about his great business visions, although she has not seen him in five years. The Cartwrights realize there is something wrong when Wendys supposedly rich father leaves her stranded in Virginia City with no money. When she is evicted from the hotel after running up a debt of $50, Joe takes her to the Ponderosa, only to have her dreams of her father shattered when he shows up flat broke.

Everyone feels Andy Walker is an outstanding singer but his father, who feels the boy should concentrate on ranch work instead. Joe mentions receiving a letter from Adam, currently in Paris.

Feeling guilty for unintentionally ending the career of a professional boxer, Hoss vows never to fight again. But things change when Joe is nearly beaten to death.

Ben and Hoss unwittingly aid a vengeful army colonel who plans to wipe out every Indian he can with a Gatling gun.

The Cartwrights friendship with a neighboring rancher is threatened by his mentally unstable daughter.

After the Cartwrights put wrangler Dan Tolliver out to pasture, the embittered old man plans to take part in robbing the Ponderosa.

As the persecuted party awaits Ben and Hoss return, Herber is shot and killed. Joe retaliates and shoots Herbers assassin.

Though his friend is badly in need of the reward money, Joe insists it belongs to him, to protect his friend from the dead outlaws brothers.

A young cowpoke is killed during a fight with Hoss, but the old blowhard who runs the Virginia City stables, takes the credit, placing him in danger from the dead mans brothers.

While in another town, on business, Ben runs into a saloon employee who is a big figure, and after he kills an old miner, who has burned down his house, Ben takes him into the sheriff. He is sentenced and hung. Before his departure, Charlie Monahan, has made his half-breed son, Charlie Two, swear an oath to kill Ben. Little Joe is made aware of this and must track him down to prevent him from carrying out his oath against Ben. Charlie Two is unaware that Joe is Bens son, as they meet on the trail.

Joe plays matchmaker in this story of a rancher attempting to marry off his supposedly unremarkable daughter.

Warbling Andy Walker returns to Virginia City a big success, along with his shifty Uncle Thaddeus.

When the woman he was planning to marry is strangled, Joe forces the only suspect to come forward.

In the town of Chiso, Joe encounters a former Ponderosa cowhand who is now a gunfighter and expecting to be killed on Friday the 13th. John Saxon makes the first of his three appearances in the series, in this episode as Steven Friday.

Joe visits his married friends in Arizona Territory, only to discover the husband has become a criminal and is secretly part of a notorious gang.

Mary Wharton, an old friend of the family, comes to live on the Ponderosa with her shiftless husband. When Ben learns Mary is the victim of domestic abuse, he sends Russ packing.

Joe becomes fascinated by detective literature and drags Hoss into the picture when he suspects the bank is going to be robbed.

Ben assists Georgio Rossi in his battle for water on adjoining property.

The foreman of a neighboring ranch frames Joe for murder as part of a scheme to get his employers property.

A woman - convinced Little Joe intentionally killed her brother - offers $1,000 to the man who kills the youngest Cartwright in what she deems a ""fair fight."" Joe, meanwhile, must overcome his guilt over killing another man in self defense while trying to avoid the dead mans bitterly grieving father.

Hoss is conned into buying a violin from a gypsy fortune teller, and everyone on the Ponderosa--except for Hop Sing--suffers the consequences.

Renegade Indians have been on the rampage attacking settlers and raising havoc in the West. Joe and Hoss have gone to warn the settlers when Joe is shot with an arrow. Hoss tries to remove the arrow, but the shaft breaks and it is imbedded in Joes shoulder, leaving Joe gravely wounded. Hoss desperately searches for help and comes upon a wagon train with an odd assortment of people. There are two women, a thief, a dying doctor, and a coward on the wagon train.

A band of Mexican kidnaps Little Joe for a $25,000 ransom. A group of cowboys plan to rescue Joe, kill him and claim the gold for themselves.

A sadistic outlaw named Dibbs along with his gang, take siege of the Ponderosa, holding Joe, Hoss, and Candy prisoners. Their foreman, Donny Buckler, has stashed $60,000 dollars and Dibbs will stop at nothing short of murder to get his hands on it.

Most people consider Mark Cole a coward, but he does not hesitate to step forward when his brother attempts to break a horse by torturing it.

A young girls ownership of a beloved stallion is jeopardized by the "big plans" of her scheming father.

Bens old friend has stolen money from corrupt politicians in New York and plans to invest in Nevada.

An anguished Hoss discovers that his testimony helped hang an innocent man accused of murder. As he struggles to bring the real killer to justice, Hoss must also combat the cowardice of another witness and the jury foreman, an influential banker.

A man, recently released from prison for bank robbery, is accused of robbing the same Virginia City bank and gunning down a teller. The Cartwrights try to protect the accused man from a posse that intends to lynch him before his trial.

The ranchers are once again losing stock to rustlers and not everyone agrees with range detective Marcus Alleys preventive methods.

When a young woman inherits her late fathers salt mine, a greedy rancher wants to buy all the salt for himself. Ben, standing for the smaller ranchers who cannot afford to pay the heiress prices, bids against the wealthy rancher to get a fair price for all.

Hoss stands alone in refusing to convict Johnny Mule, a ""slow"" ranch hand who is accused of robbing and murdering his boss. So when Johnny Mule - fearing hell be lynched, regardless of the verdict - escapes from jail during jury deliberations, its Hoss who takes the heat.

Candy falls in love with a beautiful young woman, unaware that the man claiming to be her cousin is a bounty hunter who is not only harassing her but has framed her for murder and robbery.

When a horse steps on Candys hand out on the trail, he and Joe go to Angelus to find a doctor. When they arrive, Joe sees his friend, Steve Regan, an Angelus miner. Steve tells Joe that the miners have gone on strike at his suggestion; the timber supports in the tunnels are rotting away. Joe offers him a days wages to help him drive the wild horses, since Candys hand is injured.

Davey - a orphaned Yute that Ben helped raise and has worked as a ranch hand on the Ponderosa - falls in love with one of his own. A fellow Yutes jealousy over the blossoming relationship, and later his murder jeopardize a treaty between the white man (which Ben has helped negotiate) and the Yutes.

Hoss is accused of stabbing a man to death, and his only hope of acquittal is a once great trial lawyer who is now a hopeless drunk.

Joe and Candy sell a herd to the Farrell Brothers in Arizona, but are paid a worthless bank draft. The widow of the man one of the brothers killed helps them get their money back, and the brothers hatred for each other is their undoing.

An untalented gypsy girl tries to get the Cartwrights to finance her career as an opera singer.

The 10th season opens as Joe helps a widowed mountain woman, a recluse who is suffering from an infection that has become serious, in a battle to save her land from an unscrupulous timber baron.

When on a cattle drive on Ponderosa land, the Cartwrights and Candy find a dying cavalry officer on the trail. With his last breath, he asks them to go help his commanding officer, Captain Harris. Riding atop a slope, they see Captain Harris and his soldiers fighting off Mexican bandits who are trying to steal the four kegs of gold hidden in the Army ambulance. The Cartwrights and Candy cut right between the soldiers and the Mexican bandits, in a spectacular chase through a little valley and wind up at a high and rocky outcrop, taking cover and assisting the soldiers.

The son of a rancher to whom the Cartwrights are selling a prize bull is trying to get his father ruled mentally incompetant, and will let no one stand in his way.

The residents of Tin Bucket claim the Cartwrights and Candy are dealing in stolen cattle hides. With most of the town accusing Joe, Hoss and Candy of various crimes, it is Ben who faces the most serious trouble when he determines who is actually responsible for the hide thefts.

A white woman abducted years before by the Paiutes is reunited with her husband, who is less than pleased to learn she has given birth to an Indian baby.

Joe and Candy win a stamping mill in a poker game, but the fact of them not knowing how to run it, is the least of their worries.

Hop Sing tells Hoss and Candy they can use the ancient Chinese art of fingerprinting to prove Joe is innocent of murder.

Hoss offers to help Annie Laurie, a beautiful young woman who is running away from her abusive husband, a career criminal who is determined to keep his wife under his control and travel with her throughout the southwest, any which way he can.

Candy sets out to help a feisty and elderly British woman recover the jewels stolen from her in a stage holdup.

A retired Army sergeant, bitter that he never received his pension from the government, kidnaps one-time friend Candy and forces him to go along with a daring plan to blow up the U.S. mint in Carson City and hold the gold and silver for ransom.

A shady magician, with his twin daughters, comes to Virginia City and there is a lot of confusion with the daughters of the magician, twin confusion!

Hoss spends his two-month vacation helping a black family get their farm in shape, and dealing with racism in the neighboring town.

Joe is shocked to see his ex-fiancee, Emily Anderson, in Virginia City. He had met her in Monterey five years earlier, and they had planned to get married. But her strict father thought Joe was too wild, and he burned all of Joes letters before Emily saw them. Emily and Joe are still in love with each other, but Emily conveniently forgets to tell Joe that she is now Emily McPhail, the wife of Deputy Marshal Wade McPhail. Wade is on assignment with Marshal Calhoun to help guard a $90,000 currency shipment. Emily tells Wade they have to leave Virginia City immediately, since Joes presence might interfere with their marriage, but he refuses to leave. He finds Joe and Emily embracing and engages with Joe in a savage fight, almost killing him at gunpoint. That is the first Joe hears of Emilys marriage. That is by no means the end of her lies, which eventually get Joe shot and nearly framed for murder.

Feeling unloved, a Marshals daughter runs off with a Ponderosa hand her father thinks may be related to the man that shot him.

While Ben and Hoss visit an old friend to negotiate the purchase of a mine, former Confederate soldiers arrive wanting to exact revenge on the Cartwrights friend for starving POWs during the Civil War.

An Englishman with a passion for challenging ridiculous laws shows up on the Ponderosa grazing in a land-rowing boat mounted on a wagon.

A young boy positively identifies Candy as the man wanted in Stillwater for robbery, arson and murder.

Will Griner is acquitted of murder which upsets the folks of Virginia City. They feel Griner silenced witnesses and are ready to lynch him. Ben works to reopen the case by finding out the truth about the case before it is too late.

Ben lends a hand to a down and out war veteran, Matthew Rush, who received the Congressional Medal Of Honor.

Little Joe and Candy defend Meena Calhoun and her crusty father, Luke, from horse rustlers. In the process, Joe helps Meena become assertive and stick up for herself.

While in Sunville on business for the Ponderosa, the towns storyteller, Salty - who has a talent for grossly exaggerating his tales - identifies Hoss and Candy as outlaws Big Jack (Hoss) and Sid (Candy). After a frustrating endeavor of convincing Salty of their real identities, Candy and Hoss get him to help stage ""Big Jacks"" death in a gunfight, unaware that the real Big Jack and Sid are in Sunville and plan to take advantage of the townsfolks distraction to rob the bank.

Joe agrees to help the man who tried to steal his horse, Abner Willoughby, who has returned to claim the box of gold he hid years ago, before going to sea.

Ben needs to haul three beams that are 30 feet long and the Cambeau Freight Company will not do it. A new, independent freight hauler may be the answer. However, when Ben meets Gunny, he orders him off the Ponderosa. Ben and Gunny served together in the Mexican war, and chose opposite sides. Ben puts his differences aside with Gunny and helps him win the government contract away from Cambeau Freight Company.

Ben comes to the aid of Amy Wilder, an eccentric animal lover whose mental competency is questioned when a neighbor declares an interest in her land for mining. The neighbor asks the court for a hearing to have Amy declared senile so he can obtain her land, setting off Bens race against time to track down Amys relatives to defend her mental state.

When the daughter of a friend declares her love for him, Ben agonizes over what to do.

Ben gambles the future of the Ponderosa when a convincing meat packer from Chicago, sets out to ruin the local cattle industry.

Two drifters come to the Ponderosa and they try to rob the Cartwrights but are driven away. Joe becomes close to the young Mexican, Ramon, who is with them. After they get into a little disagreement they throw Ramon out. The drifters then discover that Ramon has found gold. Ramon returns to the Ponderosa and is welcomed. The Cartwrights learn that Ramons father, who had to take care of his large family, sold his son to the two men. The two drifters grab Ramon and force him to tell them where he found the gold. They are about to make their claim when the Cartwrights stop them and let Ramon claim the gold as his. Ramon then goes back to Mexico with his fortune.

""Here comes Hoss Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail... "" Thats what the folks of Virginia City were probably thinking when a Quaker woman talks a reluctant Hoss into dressing as the Easter Bunny for the orphanages children. While hippety-hopping and waiting for Easter to be its way, Hoss - while dressed in the Easter Bunny costume - contends with a group of inept outlaws, who commit a comedy of errors in their attempts to rob stagecoaches.

Hoss meets two men. He forms a rapport with them and they tell him that they plan to rob the bank in the town they are going to. Hoss tries to stop them but he fails. Hoss decides to go into the town to warn the sheriff but is too late. The sheriff then arrests Hoss.

In the 12th season premiere, a series of destructive fires strike Virginia City, and always late at night. Is it the work of a ruthless arsonist, or someone very close to Deputy Clem?

The Weary Willies are hippie-like former Civil War veterans who are now drifters and live off the land. Despite protests from fellow ranchers and the people of Virginia City, Ben allows the traveling band to stay at the Ponderosa. The real trouble begins when a teen-aged girl is raped and the Willies are blamed.

A man called Davis has shot Colonel Clayton and escapes on horseback. Joe and Ben join the posse that sets out to find Davis. Ben and Joe volunteer to cross the desert. Ben and Joe find Davis hold up at a water hole, when Indians attack and Ben is wounded in the leg, and steal the horses. Joe unties Davis, who tends to a wounded Ben, who is suspicious that Davis will try to escape. After playing a game of cat and mouse, Ben and Davis come to an agreement: survival. Joe makes the decision to cross the desert on foot, while Ben and Davis are at the water hole, both men in need of medical help and justice.

When Hoss volunteers to be Sheriff of a town called Trouble, he soon finds out that the town had correctly been named. Hoss almost manages to arrest the whole town, and captures the Clanton gang all by himself.

A dying woman and her son are rejected by her father because she had a child out of wedlock.

Pepper Shannon is a dime novel hero and outlaw. Ben gives a job to Pepper Shannon on the condition the one-time outlaw stays away from Jamie, who happens to admire him.

Jamie forms a bond with a bum and his tame crow. Before long, Jamie suggests they repair an old wagon and leave the Ponderosa.

Settlers from Virginia argue over Hoss fate after one of them accidentally shoots him.

The Cartwrights are about to start a major cattle drive with other ranchers. It has been decided that Bens foreman will be trail boss on the drive. Weatherby, a fellow rancher who is also with Ben, has agreed to have Kelly as trail boss, until he finds out that Kelly was previously on a cattle drive with him, and fired him for drinking. Weatherby also suggests that his younger wrangler take the job as trail boss, and a conflict is started between both Bens foreman and Weatherbys wrangler.

Hoss is held prisoner by a fugitive black couple who they admit hate white people and have nothing to lose by killing them.

Ben is shocked to learn the Army general he is backing as governor, advocates a policy of genocide towards all Indians.

A racist and his henchmen steal a Gatling gun, with plans to massacre everyone - including the Cartwrights - involved in a peace treaty signing between the U.S. Army and the Paitues in Virginia City. The mans hope is that the tragedy will spark another war and eventually lead to the genocide of all Native Americans.

While visiting the Ponderosa, Bens friend, April Christopher, is bitten by a rabid wolf. Ben and April and her daughter must come to terms with her illness as they all realize the terrible fate that awaits April.

Ben, Hoss and Joe, along with Candy and a fellow rancher, are jailed on false trespassing charges by a greedy mining tycoon. The despot runs a gold mine (i.e., a thinly-veiled prison camp) and acquires slave labor by pressing phony criminal charges against the unfortunate inmates.

Jamie deliberately disobeys Bens order not to drive the supply wagons. During his recklessness, the wagon goes out of control on a sharp curve and is wrecked. Nobody is hurt but a badly injured horse has to be put to sleep. Fearing punishment, Jamie decides to run away, until Ben decides to take him on a tour of the Ponderosa, namely to see how others handle their mistakes in positive and negative ways.

Joe is shot and wounded while he is on a cattle drive in the Nevada desert. Two ranchers find him, delirious from thirst and the heat, and take him to their home to recover. While the ranchers summon a doctor, Joe struggles for life, mumbling incoherently and having surrealistic nightmares about a teepee and a wagon wheel. Ben and Hoss try to dechipher Joes ramblings to piece together what happened.

Joe volunteers to help an old lawman escort a slick outlaw to jail, but when their prisoner kills the sheriff and wounds Joe, he must face the task alone.

The wife of Virginia Citys new doctor leaves him, after their son dies in childbirth. The doctor snaps and abducts another womans baby.

A veteran blinded by the last battle of the Civil War, returns to Virginia City, to solve the mystery surrounding who killed his brother.

Jamie and three teen-agers - a girl and two boys - are kidnapped by Doyle, a hardened criminal with nothing to lose, and his gang of outlaws. The desperate outlaws use the youths as bargaining tools to make their escape from a trip to prison.

Just as Ben begins to formally adopt Jamie, his grandfather shows up to take him away. Ben tells the gentleman, "Hes a young man with his roots in Ponderosa soil. This is the life he knows, the life he loves, the life he wants".

While panning for gold on his vacation, Hop Sing meets and falls in love with a shy woman. Their future plans are dashed when a judge confirms what Ben has told Hop Sing: the law specifically prohibits interracial marriages.

Fired ranch hand, Cactus, suggests that Ben is too old to put in a real works week and challenges Ben to take a job as a ranch hand under the name "Ben Brown". He takes the job to prove himself better than Cactus.

All about Joe and Hoss visit to a small Mexican town named Agua Santos, which seems to have some rather peculiar laws. The two Cartwright boys soon find them in pretty deep trouble for breaking ""laws"" that barely would pass without notice stateside.

Sid Langley is a real estate broker who is not well liked in Nevada, thanks to his shady ways of doing business. An irritable Ben is barely polite with Langley when closing a land transaction. However, things soon get worse than that headache and blurred vision Ben suffers from when he learns that Langley has been critically wounded by an unknown assailant. Ben, who somehow cant remember the past 24 hours, fears he may have been the gunman and tries to reconstruct the activities of the past day to prove his innocence.

A comic tale of mistaken identity, as Hoss (and eventually Ben and Joe) are held in connection with a series of road gang robberies by the bumbling Younger Brothers.

Bens ability to close a lucrative livestock contract with a conspicuous widow hinges on the sale of a dilapidated saloon in Upright that Hoss and Joe had impulsively purchased. However, the boys put off the sale when the town drunk (who acts as ""saloon keeper"") insist the crumbling Trails End Saloon may house a fortune. Things get even more complicated when a woman, claiming to be the daughter of the deceased former owner, envisions turning the Trails End into a booming saloon, hotel and restaurant.

Little Joe finds true love in newcomer Alice Harper. Following a courtship, the two are engaged. Unlike most of the Cartwrights previous girlfriends, Alice makes it to the altar. Joe and Alice are starting their new life together, and she soon becomes pregnant. All appears well, as Joe and Alice start their new life together in their new home ... until one day Joe is out. Alices indolent brother owes money to a ruthless businessman and has not yet paid, so they find Alice instead. When she cant pay the debt, they brutally kill her and burn Joes house down.

Ex-con John Dundee, a friend of the Cartwights, is being released from prison. Ben tries to help John readjust to society, but John wants revenge on those who sent him to prison - namely, ex-business partners, Anders, Bartlett and Sangster. Worse, the bad guys, who are friends with a corrupt lawman, are hatching a plan to send John back to prison ... this time, for murder.

While at the Nevada State Prison to inspect conditions, Ben is taken hostage in a riot. The riot is an attempt by frustrated inmates to expose horrific conditions at the prison. While Joe and Candy plan to resolve the situation, Ben begins a friendship with Griff King (who isnt exactly receptive), and helps communicate the inmates demands to the warden and state prison board.

Ben and a pregnant woman named Teresa are held hostage by desperate outlaws, who plot to rob a stagecoach and force the two to go along with the scheme.

The moving tale of Little Joe and his beloved black stallion, which Ben purchases for his son as a birthday gift.

A lonely old man opens his home to two orphan boys but runs into bureaucratic opposition when attempting to adopt them.

Jamie becomes friends with the wife of an unpopular schoolmaster, who often browbeats her.

A serious game of ""lets pretend"" begins when Griff and government agent Theodora Duffy pose as husband and wife to capture a gang of war criminals.