Sat, Jan 27, 1962
While visiting the Ponderosa, Ben's old friend, sea Captain Matthew White, is forced to reveal a terrible secret after Little Joe Cartwright falls in love with and plans to wed the Captain's daughter, Laura, once a freckle-faced playmate from Joe's childhood in New Orleans, now grown into a beautiful woman.
Sat, Feb 17, 1962
Searching for missing Ponderosa cattle, Adam Cartwright stops to aid injured rancher, Matt Grant, takes him home and stays to help his wife and son while he recovers. But Adam doesn't know that Matt is part of a gang of rustlers responsible for the missing cattle, and now that Adam can identify him, they want him dead before their next job.
Sat, Feb 24, 1962
Tucson gunman, Jack Groat, swore to kill Sheriff Lem Partridge for putting him in prison after a bullet from Groat's gun during a drunken street brawl accidentally killed Sheriff Partridge's wife. Now, 10 years later and fresh out of prison, Groat has tracked retired Lem Partridge to Virginia City and is soon holding Lem's son, Jimmy, and good friend Ben Cartwright hostage. But things go bad and Ben must soon explain to Lem - and try to convince himself - that there was nothing he could have done that day to stop Groat from shooting Jimmy in the back.
Sat, Mar 17, 1962
The Cartwrights encourage young genius, Albert Michelson, to pursue his scientific experiments while trying to discover why schoolmaster, George Norton, expelled Albert from school and seems determined to stand in the way of his appointment to the prestigious Annapolis Naval Academy.
Sat, Apr 7, 1962
After being robbed in the desert, Adam stumbles onto a seemingly chivalrous prospector named Peter Kane, who offers him a mule and supplies for three days work. However, Kane is a demented madman who is interested in psychological torture, hoping to drive a seemingly rational man like Adam to murder. As Ben, Hoss and Little Joe try to retrace the missing Adam's footsteps, Adam must rely on his own wits to defeat Kane.
Sat, Apr 28, 1962
A stagecoach carrying Alexander Dubois, his daughter Michele and her fiancé Don Ricardo Fernandez is held up. Her dowry is stolen and Monsieur Dubois is injured trying to get it back. Little Joe brings them all to the Ponderosa where Dubois can recuperate from his wound. Adam and Hoss track the bandits and recover the dowry but the bandits get away and more attempts to steal it are made. The Cartwrights begin to grow suspicious of Don Fernandez and the way he seems to take all of this in stride.
Sat, May 12, 1962
Joe is entrusted to see that Grandpa Coomb's deathbed wish is carried out. That his granddaughter is returned to the people she never knew -- the high society Harkers. Joe must teach her to be like them before they arrive as all she's known is the life of a sheepherder living in the mountains.
Sat, Oct 20, 1962
An Army Colonel comes to the Ponderosa looking for a man who was under his command, then deserted. The Colonel believes the deserter lives in the vicinity of the Ponderosa. He wants to bring him to Washington for court martial. He shows them a picture and they claim not to know him but it's their neighbor, Bill Winters. Just as the Colonel was leaving he is shot by an arrow. While the Colonel rests, Ben goes to Bill who admits it's true. Ten years ago, the Colonel was tasked with keeping the Indians in line and he decided to do that by raiding them. Bill chose not to follow him and aided some of them to escape but he still raided the Indians and many were killed. He learns that there'll be another attempt on the Colonel so he goes to the Ponderosa and kills the Indian who was sent to kill him. When the Colonel sees Bill, he pulls his gun on him but Ben tells him that he saved his life. He then reveals that Bill is his son. When the Indians learn of Bill's connection to the Colonel, they take him for punishment. His wife, who's one of the Indians he saved tells Ben. Ben asks to speak to the Chief whom he knows. The Colonel knows that the Chief won't give his son back so he offers himself in exchange for his son. Knowing that the Indians will kill him, he asks Ben to speak to the Indians for him.
Sat, Nov 10, 1962
Civil War politics and Little Joe's romance with the daughter of an important Confederate sympathizer bring disagreement and hard feelings with him and Adam, and things don't get any better when there is shady goings on suspected between the girl's father and higher-up Confederate turncoats right before the crucial vote whether or not Nevada should join the Union, where Joe is a delegate.
Sat, Nov 24, 1962
The Cartwrights find Billy Horn, a young man who was taken captive and raised by the Shoshone. He comes to live with them and befriends them, as they try to re-accustom him to the white man's ways. However, a threat emerges with Milton Tanner, a wealthy landowner who is making a claim for one-third of the Ponderosa. Billy believes that Tanner should be fought head on, as the Indians had taught him, rather than in court, and the Cartwrights are unable to convince him otherwise. Billy decides to confront Tanner himself.