Sat, Jan 2, 1965
Intending to confront the card-shark who he believes bushwhacked and robbed him, Little Joe instead decides to get his money back by betting the shady gambler that big brother Hoss will win the Founders' Day flapjack eating contest against champion Big Ed Simpson. But Hoss isn't sure that winning the five hundred dollar first prize is worth suffering through his little brother's training program, especially when it includes meals consisting of only carrots, apples and water...and no beer!
Sat, Jan 30, 1965
Worrying that a hired gun may just cause more trouble for the ranchers, Adam Cartwright votes 'no' when the Cattlemen's Association asks ruthless range detective, Sherman Clegg, to stop a region-wide rustling problem; but when tragedy follows and Clegg is accused of murder, Adam appears to be the only one to take the side of the very man he originally opposed.
Sat, Feb 27, 1965
Suffering from an infected foot, Hoss finds unexpected relief from Professor Poppy, an itinerant patent-medicine peddler who secretly carries a medical bag. But Hoss soon finds that the professor may really be Doctor P.A. Mundy who is being trailed by a vengeful Englishman claiming that Mundy murdered his wife.
Sat, Apr 3, 1965
Adam stops Howard Mead from robbing Johann Brunner and his sister Hilda. However, Howard's talent for singing and guitar playing, along with his hard-luck stories, persuade Adam to give him another chance, and Hilda agrees to drop the charges. This may be a mistake, as Howard's talents cannot hide his dark side even as Hilda falls for him.
Sat, Apr 10, 1965
When Hoss' snoring, Adam's guitar playing and Little Joe's courting shenanigans keep a dog-tired Ben Cartwright awake, he rides wearily away from the Ponderosa to try to find a quiet room at the Virginia City hotel; but the wild, frontier town's chaotic night life soon makes him think he would have been better off back at the ranch.
Sat, Sep 11, 1965
Wiley Kane comes to the Ponderosa, along with his sister Annie, offering to work to pay back the debt he feels they owe the Cartwrights from when their father Sam swindled them. Joe tries to teach Annie to read, but Wiley objects to this out of pride. Later Wiley and Annie learn that their father, whom they assumed was dead, is actually locked up in the Virginia City jail.
Sat, Sep 25, 1965
Don Jose Ortega claims to have a brass box full of Spanish land grants, giving him ownership over most of the area around Virginia City, including the Ponderosa. Although Jose is reluctant to pursue his claim, his nephew, bitter over the loss of land in the Mexican War, would like to claim it back. Making things worse, many others living in the area are determined not to lose their land and will resort to any means to stop the Ortegas' claim.
Sat, Oct 9, 1965
A judge awards itinerant horse breeder Jim Acton's beloved mare to rancher Sam Whipple. Jim tries to buy her back, but Whipple refuses his offer, after which a fight ensues and Jim kills Whipple in self-defense. The Cartwrights want to bring Jim in to make sure he receives a fair trial, but an ambitious and overzealous deputy doesn't care how he brings him in.
Sat, Oct 23, 1965
Hoss comes upon a stagecoach whose passengers have been murdered, except for a little girl who's in a catatonic state due to shock. The Cartwrights take the girl in, hoping to find her relatives, but Hoss becomes so attached to her that he's reluctant to let her go. An uncle of hers is located and arrives in Virginia City to claim the child, but he has an ulterior motive.
Sat, Nov 13, 1965
While hunting cougar, Joe and Hoss find a young woman unconscious and bring her to the Ponderosa. The girl was abandoned in the wilderness by the wagon train she was traveling with because she is clairvoyant and sees bad events before they happen, and they thus think she is a witch. While recuperating, she predicts a future misfortune for Little Joe.
Sat, Nov 20, 1965
Hoss catches young Billy Penn working with rustlers, but because Billy stops another member of the gang from shooting him, he doesn't tell the boy's father. Billy is embarrassed and bored by his father's hog farm and yearns for a better and more exciting life. But it won't be so easy breaking away from the rustling gang either.
Sat, Dec 4, 1965
Ben is appointed temporary sheriff after Sheriff Coffee is injured while bringing in one of the Lassiter boys, who has been sentenced to hang. Elizabeth Lassiter, bitter ever since the death of her husband and loss of her ranch, has turned her sons and her foreman into outlaws, and is now threatening to kidnap one Virginia City resident a day and kill them unless her son is freed. Little Joe becomes the third one taken hostage.