Bonanza

- Season 12

(1970)

A series of destructive fires has Virginia City residents on edge and anxious to catch the arsonist. But Deputy Clem's new love interest seems to know a lot more about the fires than what she's letting on.

An orphaned rainmaker named Jamie Hunter comes to Virginia City, hoping to help relieve the drought-stricken area. When Jamie's efforts aren't immediately successful, Ben helps the lad fend off the frustrated ranchers.

The Cartwrights lend their support to The Weary Willies, a group of Civil War veterans who are struggling to re-enter society.

A murder suspect escapes a prison wagon. Sheriff Price Buchanan, who covets an appointment to Deputy U.S. Marshal, finds an injured Hoss. Buchanan, knowing his career is at risk if he fails his appointed duty, arrests Hoss and plans to substitute him in as his prisoner. Hoss befriends a fellow prisoner named Madge Tucker who knows Hoss was falsely arrested. Together, the two scheme to escape the wagon and Buchanan's clutches.

Ben and Joe Cartwright are part of a posse that is after Davis, who shot and killed an Army colonel. When Ben and Joe capture Davis in the desert, they are attacked by a rouge Indian tribe, and Ben is seriously wounded. While Joe crosses the desert on foot to seek medical attention (for his pa) and the posse (to take Davis into custody), Ben and Davis must set their differences aside to survive their hostile surroundings.

Gideon Yates, a corrupt lawman whose wife had shot her soon-to-be ex-husband in cold blood, tries to silence the murder's only witness - Little Joe Cartwright.

Hoss unwittingly volunteers to be named sheriff of an aptly named town named Trouble. While dealing with problems that one might expect to associate with the town, he must find a way to capture the nefarious Clanton gang.

After Ben is seriously injured in a horse-riding accident far from home, Joe seeks help from valley settlers who are terrified of a corrupt rancher, Dawson, and his foremen. While Ben suffers from recurring nightmares of Joe being unable to help, Joe tries to persuade Ed Thornton to do the right thing.

Old-school Zach Randolph refuses to make amends with his gravely ill daughter, Etta, because her son had been born out of wedlock. Joe risks his family's friendship with the Randolphs to set the stubborn old man straight.

The Cartwrights come to the aid of Mexican farmers in the Prince River vicinity, after they were run off the land by a corrupt tycoon wanting to strip mine the area.

A reformed outlaw named Pepper Shannon comes to the Ponderosa seeking a job. Ben agrees to hire him, but has to keep both Pepper and an impressionable Jamie away from each other - a task that's easier said than done.

Joe and Hoss pose as stagecoach robbers in an effort to track down their stolen money. However, their plans are forced to change after the wife of one of the robbers shows up.

Honest John, a drifter, is looking for a nest and hopes to settle on the Ponderosa through his rapport with the newly "adopted" Jamie. But John's breakthrough with the boy must be weighed against the seamier side of his character.

Jamie's friend Carrie Sturgis, herself an orphan, is the subject of a heated custody battle between her scheming aunt and uncle, Gifford and Vella Owens, and her gravely ill grandfather. The point of contention: the grandfather owns a gold mine ripe to be harvested, and Carrie is believed to be the heir. The Cartwrights become involved when Jamie rescues Carrie, and the Owens couple want anyone named Cartwright arrested.

Hoss is seriously wounded by a member of the Brennan clan, Virginia natives who are settling out West, across the state of Nevada. The Brennans debate whether to seek much-needed medical attention for Hoss or let him die.

In this adaptation of the Prodigal Son, Jamie - who is struggling to adjust to life on the Ponderosa and at his new school - damages Ben's valuable rifle. Refusing to take responsibility, he runs away.

During a cattle drive, Ben finds himself involved in a power struggle between the trail boss the Cartwrights appointed and a fellow rancher's foreman, who schemes to take over the job.

Ben's dead-on lookalike, the scheming Bradley Meredith, causes serious problems when he poses as the Cartwright patriarch and sells area ranchers' land to the railroad. Ben, who refused to deal with the railroad, must find a way to expose Meredith and convince one and all that he wasn't responsible.

It's a case of reverse racism, as a white-hating black outlaw couple kidnap Hoss and scheme to kill him.

Leslie and Gillian Harwood come to Nevada from England to take over the operation of a failing ranch near the Ponderosa. They have trouble adjusting to frontier life, which include cattle rustlers who threaten to put them out of business.

Gen. Ira Cloninger, an old friend of the Cartwrights, is toasted at a ceremony as a hero and asked to run for governor. Cloninger accepts and Ben enthusiastically backs the candidate - until the investigation of the killing of a young Nez Perce exposes his attitude toward Indians.

When an influenza outbreak strikes the Ponderosa, the treatment methods and philosophy of two women from different generations clash. A nurse named Harriet Clinton believes in old-fashioned methods, while the other nurse, Evangeline Woodtree, has studied up on more recent methods. Not helping matters: Doc Martin backs Harriet, in large part because he believes Evangeline's husband is a fraud.

A white supremacist named Mr. Ganns plans to disrupt a peace-treaty signing between the people of Virginia City and the Paiutes by massacring the entire town, then pin the blame on the Indian tribe.

Little Joe is blinded by an explosion and wallows in self-pity as he struggles to come to grips with his condition, which may be temporary or permanent. Ben hires a teacher from the Institute for the Blind to help Joe deal with his predicament.

Ben's friend, April Christopher, is bitten by a rabid wolf during her visit. With no treatment available, the Cartwrights and April's family struggle to watch her condition deteriorate.

During a harsh winter that kills off the stock of many ranchers, Ben offers to test a new breed's endurance by herding a cow from the stock on Sawtooth Mountain. A rival rancher attempts to undermine Ben's plans by having his foreman shoot the cow, then claim it had succumbed to the cold.

A delusional mining tycoon has the Cartwrights and Candy arrested on false trespassing charges and sentences them to slave labor at a gold mine.

A traveling professional boxer named Tom Callahan is the only person who can prove Dusty Rhodes' innocence when the Ponderosa foreman is falsely jailed. But when Callahan stubbornly refuses to come to Virginia City to provide the alibi, Joe decides to pursue him and do everything he can to bring him back.