
Ben Cartwright is the patriarch of an all-male Nevada ranching family. Set during and after the Civil War, "Bonanza" is the story of life on the family's thousand-acre spread, known as the Ponderosa, near Virginia City. Ben has his three sons, each with a different (and deceased) mother. Serious eldest son Adam hopes to follow in his father's footsteps; middle son Hoss is a gentle giant -- physically strong, but sometimes naive; and youngest son Little Joe is the most impetuous and romantic of the offspring.

The clan befriends a woman ostracized because her father and brother were hanged.

Two British socialites find that they still have a lot to learn when they visit their friends, the Cartwrights.

A Confederate sympathizer from Kansas makes trouble for both Virginia City and the Cartwrights; guest Cameron Mitchell.

Outlaws plot to steal a trunk containing the savings of a religious group heading for a new life in the West.