Adam's life is saved by an enigmatic U. S. Marshal who has come to Virginia City to arrest a friend of the Cartwrights. Adam is rescued from an ambush by Gerald Eskith, a lawman who is on a mission to Virginia City. He's looking for Jackson Blaine, a friend of the Cartwrights, claiming he needs Bla
Jeb Drummond is a murderous sheep herder that has Adam taken hostage to try and force Ben to sign over a large section of Ponderosa land to him. Jeb Drummond is driving his herd of sheep across the Ponderosa when the Cartwrights ride up. Ben politely tells him to leave. Jeb asks for permission, he'
A neighboring rancher, Andy, is good friends with Ben, but his son (Todd) wants to sell their land for mining operations which will spoil the water rights agreement that Andy and Ben made years ago. Ben and Adam find their neighbor Todd McCarren surveying the property line. Todd says, rudely, that
Angry with the way a beautiful deaf girl is treated by her father, a sheepherder living in a remote mountain cabin, Little Joe takes it upon himself to teach her sign language, so they can communicate better. His plan backfires when the young woman falls in love with him and the girl's brutish neigh
Little Joe comes upon a gypsy girl. Frightened, she runs and falls becoming unconscious. When she wakes, they discover that she believes she is bewitched and so do her people who banished her. Her birth under a dark star has fostered this belief. Little Joe, smitten, must rescue her from this belief
About to set out on a cattle drive, Ben hires a young drifter named Sam Jackson as one of his drovers. What he doesn't know is that Jackson is really outlaw Johnny Logan, who signed on to the drive because he knew it was going to pass near the town of Waycross, and Logan is determined to kill the Wa
Inspector Leduque comes from New Orleans to Virginia City to take Ben Cartwright back for a 20 year murder. When Ben declares publicly that he is withdrawing from the Governor's race, the townsfolk are upset not just about this but Little Joe has also been accused of gunning down Leduque's deputy in
The Cartwrights try to disprove the validity of a Spanish land grant to stop the De La Cuesta family from seizing part of the Ponderosa and all of the Carson Valley settlers' homestead lands. The episode opens with a settler being evicted from his land by some Spanish vacqueros. When the couple ins
Adam is bushwhacked by three deserters from the Army who are hiding out on the Ponderosa. When Ben pursues them, he is hindered by a Captain Bolton, the arrogant commander of a military posse who is also after the men. Three army prisoners have escaped Ft Dayton. Mertz still has chains around his w
Hoss and Joe get themselves involved in a family feud in a small Texas town when they are mistaken for bloodthirsty hired killers. Ellen Corby, Henry Hull, and George Mitchell guest star. On a cattle buying trip to Texas, Hoss and Little Joe are mistaken for a pair of hired killers recruited by a f
The Cartwrights construct a grist mill to help neighbor Tom Edwards, a disabled man who bitterly blames Ben for his condition. Tom is being manipulated by hired hand Ezekiel, who's not only cheating him out of his money, but also intends to steal his wife. The Cartwrights' neighbor Tom Edwards has
The Cartwrights come to the aid of a Chinese-American stable hand accused of murder. Opposing them is a manipulative mayoral candidate who wants all "foreigners" to leave Virginia City. After Hop Sing is beaten in Virginia City, the Cartwrights realize the prejudice against the Chinese in Californi
