When a young man, George Whitman, is hired on the Ponderosa work force the rest of the hired hands believe that Whitman is bad luck. For some reason it was common knowledge that Whitman was the thirteenth son of a thirteenth son but all the Cartwrights were unaware of the man's reputation as a jonah.
Thanks to Hoss, he takes Whitman to a saloon soothsayer that gives instruction on how to wash the bad luck away. And when they follow the instruction to the letter and place the charm next to Whitman's heart, all of the sudden someone turned on the light and Whitman becomes a brave sort that can take on the world. But when Hoss tells the soothsayer about using dirt from an Indian burial ground, all of the sudden the voodoo returns. And the saloon fortune teller, Madam Teresa, tells Hoss and Whitman they are foreseen to die. And when events begin to happen that Madam Teresa had foretold, people began to believe in the soothsayer's readings.
The beginning of the show seemed slow as it was more of a woe-is-me tale than an interesting story. But thanks to Dan Blocker ability to capture the interest in a story, the ending picks up nicely. By the end of the episode we have been treated to a interesting superstitious tale that was enjoyable.