Ben faces a dilemma when he discovers an unscrupulous meatpacker has taken over all the cattle cars bound for Chicago.
Hoss' open adoration of an actress (Sally Kellerman) makes him the prime suspect when her leading man is murdered; guest Joyce Bulifant.
A young bank robber gets a job on the Ponderosa to prevent the sheriff from finding the other members of his gang.
A Deputy U.S. Marshal arrives to escort a man to California to testify against a gang; guest Dan Duryea.
A hired hand (Claude Akins) victimizes the Cartwrights' disabled neighbor (Harry Townes).
Outlaws plot to steal a trunk containing the savings of a religious group heading for a new life in the West.
The Cartwrights' neighbor (Franchot Tone), a former soldier and lawman, seeks security for his daughter.
Hoss' bandit uncle (Neville Brand) decides to bypass the Ponderosa, but his gang disagrees.
Hoss and Little Joe spend a most unforgettable night at the carnival when Little Joe's date disappears.
A sheriff's daughter runs off with her boyfriend (John Ericson), unaware he is a murderous bank robber.
Ben gives farmland on the Ponderosa to an outcast Indian (Ricardo Montalban) who saved his life; guest Madlyn Rhue.
An outlaw joins the Cartwrights' cattle drive, knowing it will take him to the town where his father is sheriff.
Attacked by Shoshones while crossing a burial ground, Adam discovers that the "Indian" woman tending him is white.
Little Joe runs into romantic complications when he tries to teach a deaf girl (Stella Stevens) sign language; guest Albert Salmi.
Adam and Little Joe try to warn Hoss when he befriends a violent man (Cal Bolder).
An Easterner swears revenge for the death of his father, a drunk that a Cartwright killed in self-defense.
Adam tells betrothed Hoss his intended is a compulsive gambler who caused her husband's death.
A Kentucky mountain clan swears revenge on Little Joe after he shoots a family member for arson.
Little Joe and Hoss are mistaken for gunmen while in a small Texas town; they find themselves in the middle of a dangerous feud between two families.
A potential mayoral candidate attempts to stir up trouble between majority and minority groups in town.
A former dance hall girl poses as a Spanish heiress to claim a land grant that includes part of the Ponderosa; guest Sebastian Cabot.
A shepherd ignores the Cartwrights' warning not to drive his flock across the Ponderosa; guest Everett Sloane.
A Ponderosa ranch hand faces charges of killing the wife of the U.S. marshal (Claude Akins) who came to arrest him.
Adam is taken hostage by a band of U.S. Army prisoners who have escaped and sought refuge on the Ponderosa.
A wanderer seeking his parents' lynchers, arrives in Virginia City as Ben and Adam are convicted of murder.
Two traildrivers are shanghaied shortly after the Ponderosa cattle herd arrives in San Francisco.
When a neighbor agrees to sell his property, the Cartwrights fear the loss of water rights for their cattle.
The Cartwrights befriend a boy whose father has been sent to jail and whose mother has recently died.
Little Joe falls for a girl who has been disowned by her people because they think she is a witch and, therefore, an outcast.
A member of a powerful gang murders a shopkeeper; the deputized Cartwrights sentence a murderer to hang at dawn when the leader of the gang kidnaps Ben and holds him hostage.