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 Joe's 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.
Guest Stars:
Bettye Ackerman, James Gregory, Joe De Santis, Jane Zachary
Ben, Hoss and Little Joe help the Virginia City militia escort a renegade Indian, who believes he is the Almighty, through hostile Indian territory to prison.
Guest Stars:
Ron Foster, Michael Forest, Richard Hale, Geoffrey Deuel, Bill Quinn
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.
Guest Stars:
John Saxon, Ray Teal, John Kellogg
Candy is arrested for committing murder in the town of Olympus. He is accused of killing Jed Wheelock, the son of wealthy A. Z. Wheelock. He insists on finding his son's killer but he wants a fair trial for Candy. Joe accompanies Candy to make sure things go smoothly, but when Joe is accused of killing a witness who claims he saw Candy kill Jed, Joe is locked up for murder with Candy, and it is up to Hoss to find the killer.
Guest Stars:
Brooke Bundy, Barry Sullivan, Dabbs Greer
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.
Guest Stars:
Ron Hayes, Joan Freeman
While at the bank in Sandust, Little Joe and the bank's secretary witness an armed robbery. During a subsequent gunfight, the main culprit kills the banker, but is quickly brought to justice. Joe, Hoss and Candy agree to be witnesses but must avoid being killed in the meantime.
Guest Stars:
Davey Davison, Bill Fletcher, Jerry Douglas, Russ Conway, Rudy Doucette
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.
Guest Stars:
Lana Wood, Bing Russell, Victor Sen Yung, Pat Conway, Douglas Henderson
Driving horses to Utah, the Cartwrights and Candy discover only two people left in a town wiped out by rampaging Paiute Indians. Together, Mary Burns and Josh Tanner must travel through hostile territory, along with the Cartwrights and Candy.
Guest Stars:
Tina Louise, Bing Russell, Troy Melton
A young girl's ownership of a beloved stallion is jeopardized by the "big plans" of her scheming father.
Guest Stars:
Kim Darby, Victor Sen Yung, Rudy Doucette, Jack Gordon
A career robber who claims to be a lumber man, and his gang plan to use Ben's new freight paddleboat to haul a $1 million currency shipment to San Francisco.
Guest Stars:
Richard Anderson, Bing Russell, Kevin Hagen, Troy Melton
Ben's old friend has stolen money from corrupt politicians in New York and plans to invest in Nevada.
Guest Stars:
Burgess Meredith, Victor Sen Yung, Jack Gordon, Liam Dunn, John Indrisano
An injured rancher, who has enlisted the aid of the Cartwrights to buy back one of his horses after his farm is foreclosed, must avoid getting killed by his ruthless uncle, who will stop at nothing to gain full control of the ranch.
Guest Stars:
Patricia Hyland, Ford Rainey, Charles Maxwell, James MacArthur, Tom Fadden
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.
Guest Stars:
Simon Oakland, Ray Teal, Nita Talbot
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
Guest Stars:
Victor Sen Yung, Paul Fix, Dub Taylor, Jack Gordon, Caroline Richter
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.
Guest Stars:
Ray Teal, Bruce Dern, Warren Vanders, Ted Gehring, James B. Sikking
Trick photography is employed to help a killer beat a murder rap, to prove he was not there at the time of the murder he committed. However, the camera also proves to be his undermining.
Guest Stars:
Gerald Mohr, Andy Devine, Harry Harvey, Steve Raines, Sheilah Wells
The ranchers are once again losing stock to rustlers and not everyone agrees with range detective Marcus Alley's preventive methods.
Guest Stars:
Ray Teal, Anna Navarro, Albert Salmi, Kenneth Tobey, Bill Quinn
A cruel, sadistic, alcoholic and racist rancher named Aaron Gore stalks the wife of Ben's friend, whom he has hired as a horse trainer. The woman is a glowingly beautiful Sioux who befriends Mr. Gore's son, whom he regularly beats up. Mr. Gore uses some incredibly vicious means to ensure she regrets ever having anything to do with his son.
Guest Stars:
Dawn Wells, Bing Russell, Victor French, Michael Murphy, Bobby Riha
When a young woman inherits her late father's 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.
Guest Stars:
David Canary, Jack Gordon, John Doucette, Robert Patten, Kim Hunter
A band of outlaws enact a scheme to rob the Ponderosa, by tricking Hoss and Little Joe away from the ranch and leaving a wounded Ben alone at home.
Guest Stars:
Ray Teal, Leo Gordon, Robert Drivas
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 he'll be lynched, regardless of the verdict - escapes from jail during jury deliberations, it's Hoss who takes the heat.
Guest Stars:
Noah Beery Jr., Lee Patterson, Jack Ging, Jack Gordon, Coleen Gray
In order to ruin the plans of a corrupt politician, Ben allows everyone to think that an attempt on his life was successful.
Guest Stars:
David Canary, William Campbell, George Gaynes, Hal Taggart
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.
Guest Stars:
David Canary, Tisha Sterling, William Windom, Jack Gordon, Jean Willes
The Ponderosa ranch hands are at Riverbend during a cattle drive. While there, Candy meets an old friend, Lilah Holden, working in a saloon. When the cattle drive is ready to move on, Candy resigns to stay and help Lilah. It is not long before Ben, Hoss, and Joe are involved.
Guest Stars:
David Canary, Elizabeth MacRae, Joe Turkel, Robert J. Wilke, Jack Gordon
When a horse steps on Candy's 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 day's wages to help him drive the wild horses, since Candy's hand is injured.
Guest Stars:
Peter Whitney, Marj Dusay, Ivan Triesault
An alcoholic rancher, drinking away his bitterness, makes live unbearable for his wife and children. Hoss helps reform his friend while bringing happiness and stability to his family.
Guest Stars:
Johnny Whitaker, Julie Harris, Michele Tobin, Steve Ihnat
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 Yute's jealousy over the blossoming relationship, and later his murder jeopardize a treaty between the white man (which Ben has helped negotiate) and the Yutes.
Guest Stars:
Cherie Latimer, Jack Gordon, Lou Antonio, Ned Romero, Troy Melton
While the others are away, Ben and Candy are lured by an old friend of Ben's to go somewhere. The ""friend"" traps them in a deep pit. He comes back to give them food, but how long will he be feeling ""generous""?
Guest Stars:
James Whitmore
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.
Guest Stars:
David Canary, Rudy Doucette, Robert Sorrells, Jack Gordon
Eddie McKay, the son of a robber and murderer who Hoss killed several years ago in a shootout, returns to Virginia City to make a good start. Hoss wants to help reform Eddie and help him get over his bitter feelings for the Cartwrights, but it's an uphill battle. Not helping matters, a rancher who wants Eddie to help him steal from the Ponderosa.
Guest Stars:
David Canary, Jim Davis, Jan-Michael Vincent, Bing Russell, Rudy Doucette
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.
Guest Stars:
Lynda Day George
Joe reluctantly takes a job as a substitute teacher and must contend with two older students who have no use for an education.
Guest Stars:
Anne Helm, Morgan Woodward
An untalented gypsy girl tries to get the Cartwrights to finance her career as an opera singer.
Guest Stars:
Susan Strasberg, Victor Sen Yung

33 Episodes