Overview of 'Bonanza' Season 7

Episode 1 - The Debt

Release Date: 1965-09-12

Wiley and Annie Kane arrive at the Ponderosa to work off their father's debt to Ben. It seems as though the elder Kane once swindled the Cartwright patriarch.

Episode 2 - The Dilemma

Release Date: 1965-09-19

Ben helps a convict win a parole only to have the man later become the chief suspect in a bank robbery.

Episode 3 - The Brass Box

Release Date: 1965-09-26

Juan Ortega claims he has a land grant which gives him ownership of the entire Nevada Territory.

Episode 4 - The Other Son

Release Date: 1965-10-03

A mule skinner and his two sons are hired by Ben to transport nitroglycerin to California.

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.

Episode 6 - Devil on Her Shoulder

Release Date: 1965-10-17

Ben is attracted to Sarah Reynolds, a member of a religious order led by her fanatical uncle. When she is accused of being a witch, the Cartwrights step in.

Episode 7 - Found Child

Release Date: 1965-10-24

Hoss comes upon an overturned stagecoach and discovers a little girl suffering from shock. After the Cartwrights suceed in bringing her around, Hoss is disappointed she has relatives and cannot stay. The girl's uncle turns out to be the enemy and Hoss saves her.

Episode 8 - The Meredith Smith

Release Date: 1965-10-31

Ben must determine who is the rightful heir to a fortune that includes water rights vital to the Ponderosa.

Episode 9 - Mighty is the Word

Release Date: 1965-11-07

Virginia City's newest preacher is an ex-gunfighter who wants only to build a new church, but the brother of one of his victims has other ideas. The blueprints for the church are said to be a gift from Adam.

Episode 10 - The Strange One

Release Date: 1965-11-14

Hoss and Joe find a woman abandoned by a wagon train because her gift of prophecy is considered a curse. "Wouldn't it be wonderful," says Ben, "if eveybody made a real effort to understand whatever's strange and unfamiliar rather to fear it and try to destroy it?"

Episode 11 - The Reluctant Rebel

Release Date: 1965-11-21

The Generation Gap, Western-style, as Hoss tries to bring a young man and his father closer together.

Episode 12 - Five Sundowns to Sunup

Release Date: 1965-12-05

The mother of a young outlaw condemned to hang, threatens to have her gang's hostages killed if her son is not set free. One of the hostages is Joe.

Episode 13 - A Natural Wizard

Release Date: 1965-12-12

Hoss finds a kindred spirit in Skeeter Dexter, a lonesome young man who feels closer to animals than most people.

Episode 14 - All Ye His Saints

Release Date: 1965-12-19

In this series' highlight, little Michael Thorpe heads to the high country to ask God to spare his critically wounded father, believing he has found Him in the form of longtime fugitive Tom Cain.

Episode 15 - The Dublin Lad

Release Date: 1966-01-02

After sitting on a jury that has convicted Terrence O' Tool of murder, Joe has second thoughts about the verdict and decides to do some investigating of his own.

Episode 16 - To Kill a Buffalo

Release Date: 1966-01-09

Hoss finds a wounded young Indian on the prairie, who is torn between accepting the ways of the white man or returning to his old life.

Episode 17 - Ride the Wind (1)

Release Date: 1966-01-16

The Pony Express sets up office in Virginia and Joe is one of the first to join up. Ben also decides to invest in the fledgling enterprise. However, troubles soon plague the Pony Express with the Paiutes and a newspaper reporter, both trying to get their own agendas across.

Episode 18 - Ride the Wind (2)

Release Date: 1966-01-23

Conclusion to the previous-week's episode, where the Cartwrights provide needed assistance to the Pony Express.

Episode 19 - Destiny's Child

Release Date: 1966-01-30

After his only friend is killed, the Cartwrights take in a slow-witted man, who Roy Coffee informs them, is wanted for murder by Arizona authorities.

Episode 20 - Peace Officer

Release Date: 1966-02-06

While Sheriff Coffee is in Saint Louis, the Morrisey bunch decides to work off excess energy by wrecking the saloon in a violent spree. When Deputy Bill Harris tries to arrest them, they hit him on the head with a whiskey bottle, accidentally killing him. All of them get away except Cliff, who is put in jail. He refuses to say the names or locations of his friends. Mayor Garrett holds an emergency meeting of the Virginia City town council. They hire legendary lawman Wes Dunn, as the temporary sheriff. He is a humorless man who is determined to restore order in town. He beats Cliff almost to death to find out where his friends are, but Cliff will not say anything. Meanwhile, Hoss finds Chuck, a wounded gang member. When he tries to take Chuck's gun away, he shoots Hoss. Joe goes with Dunn to find the other men. He thinks Dunn is a hero until he sees him murder one of the suspects in cold blood.

Episode 21 - The Code

Release Date: 1966-02-13

Joe is goaded into facing gunman Dan Taggert, unaware there is more to be prearranged than he realizes.

Episode 22 - Three Brides for Hoss

Release Date: 1966-02-20

Not one, but three mail-order brides show up unexpectedly at the Ponderosa, all of them believing they are to marry Hoss.

Episode 23 - The Emperor Norton

Release Date: 1966-02-27

Joshua Norton, an eccentric and formerly wealthy San Francisco merchant who considers himself Emperor of the United States and Protector of Mexico, comes to the Ponderosa. Authorities want to have him committed, and Ben contacts Mark Twain to testify to Norton's sanity.

Episode 24 - Her Brother's Keeper

Release Date: 1966-03-06

Ben and Claire Armory fall in love, but their future is jeopardized by her disabled brother.

Episode 25 - The Trouble with Jamie

Release Date: 1966-03-20

The Cartwrights attempt to straighten out the snobbish young son of Ben's cousin.

Episode 26 - Shining in Spain

Release Date: 1966-03-27

Young, adoring Wendy Daniels has come to Virginia City to meet up with her father, Taylor Daniels, who has been traveling on business for the last five years. Joe is attracted to Wendy, but he faces stiff competition for her affections. She idolizes her father and cannot stop talking about his great business visions, although she has not seen him in five years. The Cartwrights realize there is something wrong when Wendy's supposedly rich father leaves her stranded in Virginia City with no money. When she is evicted from the hotel after running up a debt of $50, Joe takes her to the Ponderosa, only to have her dreams of her father shattered when he shows up flat broke.