Samuel Clemens arrives in Virginia City to write for the Territorial Enterprise at the same time a crooked politician tries to lay claim on the Ponderosa.

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 defends the mining claim of Annie O' Toole in a court presided over by Judge Ben Cartwright. Annie comes to the Washoe Diggings with a claim to a mine filed by her beau, Swede Lundberg. Swede has two claims and sold one to an acquaintance of theirs named Gregory Spain, creating confusion, that only Judge Ben Cartwright can make a ruling on.

In a flashback, the legendary prospector arrives on the Ponderosa and participates in the founding of Virginia City. Coincidentally, guest star Jack Carson played a teller at the Comstock Bank and Trust in the 1942 film, "Gentleman Jim". This early classic was the second episode filmed.

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

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 she's 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 doesn't find them, and soon after hears Sue Ellen's 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 wasn't trying to hit

Hoss and Joe come across a pregnant Indian woman while hunting bighorn sheep and must deliver her baby. Despite touches of humor, including a scene in which Joe refers to a meal as "cattle fodder", the story does not have an altogether happy ending.

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.

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 Joe's mother, and viewers are shown Marie's grave near the shore of Lake Tahoe.

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 Blocker's best.

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

The Cartwright boys are concerned that Ben might be getting on in years, yet it is he who saves them from cattle rustlers.

A woman Ben once loved, Lady Chadwick, returns and attempts to trick him into marrying her by ruining his business. Ben says almost losing the Ponderosa will make him and his sons appreciate it more.

Joe wins a card game and an unexpected prize...a young lady. She goes to the Ponderosa and serves them, not wanting to be set free. Meanwhile, an army is looking for her and the Cartwrights.

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

An overbearing friend of the family tries to force her daughter into marrying Joe, though she does not love him. The situation grows more complex when Adam stumbles onto the scheme.

Joe promises a dying sheepman he will make sure the old man's granddaughter gets her rightful inheritance from a wealthy San Francisco family. This episode was filmed immediately after "Inger, My Love", which explains why Blocker's arm is still in a sling.

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

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.

Little Joe's 19-year old girlfriend is killed by a good samaritan, an explosives expert who had stopped to render aid to the woman's uncle after he suffers a stroke. Unable to talk, the only clue he can offer the investigating Cartwrights is a scrawled title of the song the assailant was whistling — ""New Orleans Woman.""

Hoss wants to marry mysterious Regan Miller, a woman with less than a pristine past. When he thinks Adam is trying to steal her away, he loses control and beats Adam up.

Ben becomes irritable and reckless when the completion of an important timber contract is hindered by an old rival.

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.

Ben invites opera singer Angela Bergstrom to perform at Virginia City's anniversary celebration. She accepts, but does not tell him that her famous singing voice is long gone

Hoss finds a kindred spirit in Skeeter Dexter, a lonesome young man who feels closer to animals than most people.

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.

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

The Cartwrights attempt to straighten out the snobbish young son of Ben's cousin.

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.

Hoss finds himself in another mess, this one involving a beautiful blonde, a moonshiner, and a nearsighted outlaw who is allergic to chocolate and flowers.

Hoss is engaged to Carol Attley, a troubled woman with a past darker than he imagines.

The Cartwrights protect a woman and her deaf-mute little son from the boy's outlaw stepfather.

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

Two Virginia City old-timers fool Hoss and Joe into raising rabbits, and the Ponderosa is overrun with paws and whiskers.

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

Dolly Bantree has a crooked manager ""Blackie"", who blackmails Dolly to fleece newly rich miner Buford out of his newfound wealth. Hoss suspects something and gets all duded up to pose as a rich mark to test Dolly.

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.

Young Billy Wilcox wanders onto the Ponderosa, sick, hungry, and alone. Ben finds him, and after he regains his strength, offers Billy a job. Jennifer Yardley, who with her father is visiting the Cartwrights, is interested in Billy. Billy is more concerned about a lawman that has come to town because he has a past that could be problematic: he killed a man in self-defense and ran.

The Cartwrights play host to Russian royals, who are the target of jewel thieves.

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

A gang of juvenile delinquents, led by an intelligent runt, who calls himself Napoleon, terrorizes Virginia City and the Ponderosa as well.

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 man's bitterly grieving father.

The Cartwrights' cousin, Clarissa visits. Her assertive, snobbish ways result in nothing but trouble for Ben and his sons.

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

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 girl's ownership of a beloved stallion is jeopardized by the "big plans" of her scheming father.

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

Hoss wants to buy a mine thought to be worthless and orders a fancy invention to prove it isn't and becomes the local laughingstock in town

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

Hoss and Joe rival for the affections of visiting entertainer Mademoiselle Denise, though she is more concerned for her little dog, Andre, than anything else.

Hoss and Joe's bickering leads them into taking opposite sides in the Virginia City mayoral race. Their zealous actions leads into dividing Virginia City's citizens into 2 factions that causes nothing but arguments, fights and havoc in town.

A bratty 10-year-old girl named Samantha, whose mother is Ben's cousin and is a third cousin of Hoss and Little Joe, comes to the Ponderosa. While she proves to be a handful, Ben (who tracks down the girl's mother) really has his hands full when her grandfather comes to the Ponderosa demanding custody.

In the third and final installment of the Rossi family, Georgio Rossi doesn't understand why he cannot allow Indians who have left the reservation to live on his land.

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

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

Ben is sorry to learn that two of his oldest friends are on opposite sides of the law, after 27 years. Charlie Shepard once worked a mining claim with Ben, along with Jess Waddell, now a bounty hunter, and will stop at nothing to kill Charlie, regardless of what anyone tries to persuade him to do otherwise.

Candy has inherited a fortune from an Indian he helped. He quits his job on the Ponderosa and becomes a vice president for a land promotor who is selling beautiful, fertile land. When it is discovered that the land promotor is selling barren desert land, Candy and the Cartwrights set out to expose the land promotor as a fraud.

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

""Here comes Hoss Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail... "" That's 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 orphanage's 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.

Little Joe stays back at the Ponderosa to tend to its operation as Ben, Hoss, Candy and Hop Sing leave for a cattle drive, who leave as a severe thunderstorm approaches. Joe goes to the barn to calm a horse that was spooked by the thunder and lightning. But just when it seems like the horse has settled down, the horse goes wild, knocking down Joe and crushing his left arm and breaking his leg. Joe goes in and out of consciousness and, after struggling against driving rain and winds to get into the house, treats his wounds. However, the arm is infected and Joe, fearing gangrene has set in, debates whether to amputate the wound.

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

Ben and Hoss come to the rescue of Mexican farmers who are forced off their land by the greedy mine owner who runs the town of Prince River.

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.

A girl's uncle and aunt want custody of her only because they believe she has the rights to her late grandfather's mine.

An insecure Jamie is unsure of his place in the family, having trouble adjusting at his new school and keeps getting harassed by a bully. When he takes Ben's prized gold-plated rifle and breaks it, he runs away, sending Ben to go looking for him.

An English couple comes to Nevada to learn why a ranch owned by the British investment firm is the only company holding not showing a profit.

Hoss becomes a judge in a contest--he has to pick the perfect/prettiest baby. The parents of the babies nearly all try to influence Hoss, so he has a hard time deciding. There is one quite hilarious part (though odd).

Neta, a teen-age girl who is a friend of Jamie's, witnesses an assault and robbery. The victim - Mr. Trumbull, a man who is about to inherit a fortune - dies. The culprit, a drifter named Griff Bannon, gets a glimpse of Neta and, after fleeing the scene, plots to assume his victim's identity and stalk the witness. Her father, meanwhile, is no help, since he raises her by ""traditional values"" and forbids her to socialize with the Cartwrights. Meanwhile, the imposter - now working for the Cartwrights - begins to track Neta's every move and plans to seal her silence, unless she can summon the courage to tell Jamie and the others about the crime she witnessed and identify the baddie.

When Luke Calhoun loses all his money in a stock scheme, he and his daughter Meena stay at the Ponderosa with disruptive consequences. Luke turns the ranch into a casino and Meena continues her frantic search for a husband, where she left off in season eleven's "Meena".

Just as Ben begins to formally adopt Jamie, his grandfather shows up to take him away. Ben tells the gentleman, "He's 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.

Hoss enlists the aid of Judith Coleman, a clairvoyant woman who has the gift of "second sight" to find Jamie. He has been missing in the high country and cannot be found by anyone. Judith's gifted psychic abilities have had a long history of men casting her off as a witch, so at first she is reluctant to help the Cartwrights search for Jamie, then changes her mind since she owes them a great deal. Her fiancee, Jess Avery, who is a minister, doesn't look with favor as to her abilities and she may face the consequences of losing him unless she finds Jamie. Hoss refers to Jamie as his "little brother" for the first time.

A band of ex-Confederate soldiers demands $25,000 from Ben. When Hoss resists their demands and tries to fight them, their leader, Shanklin, shoots Hoss in the abdomen. Hoss lingers near death, and when the doctor is unable to complete the surgery, a nearly inconsolable Ben persuades Shanklin (a confident, competent doctor) to save his son's life. Meanwhile, Jamie - who had witnessed the shooting and nearly got shot himself - searches high and low for Joe, who is involved with a beautiful starlet and intently focused on a poker match.

The Cartwrights are once again brought in the middle of the Civil War. This time, the wife of former Civil War Col. Cody Ransom brings her young daughter to the Ponderosa, trying to pick up the pieces of their lives. However, Ben soon learns that Col. Ransom may be trying to search for his family. However, Union Maj. Donahue has been pursing Ransom and his men for many years after the war ended, and has refused to accept anybody's terms of surrender - especially since Donahue considers capturing Ransom a personal matter.

While the Cartwrights are away to Carson City, ruthless land baron Bradley Meredith (Lorene Greene in a dual role) poses as Ben in a scheme to get control of the Ponderosa ... by pretending ""Ben"" is seriously ill and selling his holdings to friends.

Jamie obtains an Irish setter pup and forms a special bond between dog and man. The dog's owner learns the puppy is at the Ponderosa and arrives to claim it ... so he can put it to sleep (since it was a runt and, according to the master, an inferior example of the breed. The dog is soon in a trial for its life.

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

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