Bonanza: Season 4

Clay Stafford just arrived in Virginia City but already seems to know who Joe and the Cartwrights are. When he gets a job on their ranch as a cowhand, his past is revealed and hopes it will not affect his new relationship with them, especially Joe.

Wanting to prove his independence and (at the same time) break out of the shadows of his Pa and older brothers, Little Joe sets out to win a lucrative timber contract for the Ponderosa.

Matthew Raine, once a world-class artist, has lost his sight due to disease. When befriended by Ben Cartwright, he realizes he has been feeling sorry for himself all this time and with his friend Ann's help, finds a way to turn his darkness into light.

While making a payment delivery, Hoss is wrongfully accused of being a bank robber with the money being his loot.

An Army Colonel comes to the Ponderosa looking for a man who was under his command, then deserted. The Colonel believes the deserter lives in the vicinity of the Ponderosa. He wants to bring him to Washington for court martial. He shows them a picture and they claim not to know him but it's their neighbor, Bill Winters. Just as the Colonel was leaving he is shot by an arrow. While the Colonel rests, Ben goes to Bill who admits it's true. Ten years ago, the Colonel was tasked with keeping the Indians in line and he decided to do that by raiding them. Bill chose not to follow him and aided some of them to escape but he still raided the Indians and many were killed. He learns that there'll be another attempt on the Colonel so he goes to the Ponderosa and kills the Indian who was sent to kill him. When the Colonel sees Bill, he pulls his gun on him but Ben tells him that he saved his life. He then reveals that Bill is his son. When the Indians learn of Bill's connection to the Colonel, they take him for punishment. His wife, who's one of the Indians he saved tells Ben. Ben asks to speak to the Chief whom he knows. The Colonel knows that the Chief won't give his son back so he offers himself in exchange for his son. Knowing that the Indians will kill him, he asks Ben to speak to the Indians for him.

Adam finds shelter overnight at a stagecoach way station. There he meets others ranging from a beautiful girl to a dangerous outlaw on the run.

The violently divisive politics of the American Civil War intrude on the Cartwright home with Adam and Joe seriously disagreeing while Ben wants no part of the conflict, even as a secret agent makes his move..

Hoss Cartwright's good deed results in hard feelings when the mail order bride he has volunteered to escort to a neighboring rancher falls in love with him before she reaches her intended groom.

The Cartwrights find Billy Horn, a young man who was taken captive and raised by the Shoshone. He comes to live with them and befriends them, as they try to re-accustom him to the white man's ways. However, a threat emerges with Milton Tanner, a wealthy landowner who is making a claim for one-third of the Ponderosa. Billy believes that Tanner should be fought head on, as the Indians had taught him, rather than in court, and the Cartwrights are unable to convince him otherwise. Billy decides to confront Tanner himself.

Mexican freedom fighters loyal to Benito Juárez take over the Ponderosa, gravely wound Little Joe, and force Ben to guide them to a wagon train loaded with gold being smuggled to California by Emperor Maximilian.

Will and Charlie bury their father with the help of Hoss. He decides to help them get to their aunt but he finds out soon enough that he's taken on more than he bargained for when he finds out how their pa was killed.

Hoss suffers a life-threatening injury. Only surgery by a doctor in jail for murder can save him.

A jilted friend of Hoss can't seem to shake the bottle. When a woman and her daughter arrive on the stage the party that was supposed to greet them has left town. Hoss tries to play matchmaker but his friend seems determined to sabotage the whole thing.

Hoss faces scorn and accusations of bribery when he refuses to vote with his fellow jurors to convict a man for murder based solely on the testimony of the victim's brother who witnessed the act on a dark night.

One of Ben Cartwright's old war buddies who claims to be a business tycoon developing a new territory, woos a wealthy Virginia City widow and jeopardizes a Ponderosa land deal.

Incriminating scratches on cowhand Danny Morgan's arm and his penchant for riding alone through the night strumming his guitar makes him the prime suspect when a woman is found strangled the morning after witnesses heard Danny's voice singing in the dark outside her cabin.

Adam helps an angry young man to confront the "hanging judge" who sentenced his father to death in a high-stakes miscarriage of justice.

Hoss harbors kindred spirit Big Jim Layton on the Ponderosa while trying to clear the wounded mountain man's name from charges of theft and murder.

Little Joe finds himself at the scene of a murder, and befriends the victim's vengeance-minded son.

Ben recounts his adventure in New Orleans during which he met his third wife, the then future mother of Little Joe.

Unlucky Hoss loses his valuable Kentucky thoroughbred racehorse in a poker game then schemes with brother Adam to buy it back before the end-of-the-month entry deadline for the Virginia City Sweepstakes race.

Little Joe falls in love with a beautiful woman who aspires to be an actress.

Bushwacked and suffering from amnesia, Hoss is found wandering down the road by the Vandervorts, an older couple who are happy to take the gentle giant into their family to replace the son they lost. But when Ben comes looking for his missing son, the Vandervorts lie about seeing him and refuse to tell Hoss who he really is, planning to take him to Michigan with them and away from his real family, and the Ponderosa, for good.

Adam helps a beautiful woman, and her father, a peddler of devout Jewish faith.

An alcoholic saloon girl changes her life with the help of Ben and an ex-prizefighter who falls in love with her.

Attacked by outlaws, Hoss takes cover in a prospector's shack with the old prospector and with Walter, the old man's surprisingly communicative dog.

One of Ben's ranch hands on the Ponderosa finds his past catching up with him when his twin brother murders a man.

During a wolf hunt, Adam accidentally shoots Little Joe, and must find help if Joe is to survive.

A stagecoach accident in a windstorm leaves 5 stranded, after which Little Joe is accused when a man is found murdered with Joe's knife.

Hoss tries to help Whizzer McGee, a man with a short height, short fuse, thin skin, and big ideas.

While Ann Wilson and her Uncle Fred are en route to her boyfriend Joe's birthday party, Fred suffers a sudden stroke and is rendered unconscious. A man claiming to be a Good Samaritan stops to help, only to rape and kill Ann. Joe is devastated and vows to track down the killer. While Fred is eventually moved to the Ponderosa to recover (and for his protection against anyone who might want to silence him), Joe undermines Deputy Clem Foster's investigation. Meanwhile, the killer - a munitions expert named William Poole - gets a job on the Ponderosa, since his expertise with a new substance called nitroglycerin can help clear old tree stumps off the ranch. Poole, who is staying with a widowed neighbor named Mrs. Gibson, tries to get at Uncle Fred, but Joe, who has been keeping a bedside vigil, stops him at every turn. Eventually, Joe sees Uncle Fred's hand move and begins questioning him. Fred is only able to scrawl a barely legible message before he goes numb, and suffers a subsequent (and ultimately fatal) stroke. Before Fred dies, Joe manages to figure out the note had something to do with "New Orleans Woman." Joe visits Mrs. Gibson, who produces sheet music to the song. After Joe leaves, Poole returns and Mrs. Gibson eventually realizes that he killed Ann. Poole, knowing he can be identified, kills Mrs. Gibson. Joe later hears an explosion coming from Mrs. Gibson's house and, knowing that Poole had finished his work and was supposed to be on his way, returns to investigate. Upon arrival, he sees Poole carrying Mrs. Gibson's burned corpse into the house, but Joe's suspicions that the explosion was no accident is confirmed when he sees the ripped up sheet music, pieces it back together and fingers Poole as Ann's killer. Poole, who reveals himself as a misogynist, threatens to blow the Ponderosa off the map and throws a vial at Joe, but Joe kills the villain in self-defense.

When Claude Miller is fired from his latest job, his girl and Little Joe scheme to help him regain his self respect by buying his worthless land. When he involves his brother Hoss to buy some mining claims too, the prior owners blow it up and discover silver - as big as the Comstock lode! But new riches brings out those wanting to get rich too.

Ben confronts a former friend who has become a local strongman after monopolizing the freight business.

An Italian immigrant and his son seek a new life after fleeing violence in their home country.