Hoss and Little Joe soon discover that the Shoshone Indian brave who tries to rob their hunting camp is actually a soon-due, pregnant Shoshone woman who refuses to tell them why she left her tribe and appears to be making her way towards Virginia City.

The Cartwrights come to the aid of Leta Malvet when she is ostracized by the community after her father and brother are hanged by a lynch mob for killing two men while trying to rob the stagecoach that they thought carried the Ponderosa's payroll. But Adam is sure that the gang will try again when they find out that the Malvets came up empty-handed and suspects that it's no coincidence when Leta's beau, bad boy Clay Renton, comes back to town.