
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.

Little Joe and Hoss are mistaken for gunmen while in a small Texas town; they find themselves in the middle of a dangerous feud between two families.

A pardoned bank robber takes revenge on prosecution witnesses Ben and Candy by imprisoning them in a deserted mine.

When a neighbor agrees to sell his property, the Cartwrights fear the loss of water rights for their cattle.

The Cartwrights befriend a boy whose father has been sent to jail and whose mother has recently died.