
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.

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.

A young bank robber gets a job on the Ponderosa to prevent the sheriff from finding the other members of his gang.

Hoss befriends Charlie Trent, a man who went from top Army scout to town drunk after he led his troops into a massacre.

A Deputy U.S. Marshal arrives to escort a man to California to testify against a gang; guest Dan Duryea.