The Cartwright family runs the sprawling Ponderosa ranch near Virginia City, Nevada, in the 1860s, facing outlaws, land disputes and frontier justice together.
Prejudice sweeps Virginia City as a politician stirs the town against its Chinese residents, and the Cartwrights stand up for justice.
A feud over water rights turns dangerous when a rival rancher poisons the land next to the Ponderosa.
A young drifter joins the Cartwrights on a cattle drive, but he is secretly hunting the sheriff he blames for his father's death.