Adam has a duel with someone who insulted a saloon girl he likes. Ben is concerned that his son is getting involved with a girl who's past hasn't been very rosy. When she is shot and killed in his arms, he is arrested for her murder while the real killer he shot at gets away.

After tangling with bandits on the way to California to buy a prize bull for the Ponderosa, Little Joe fends off a pretty senorita and her jealous fiancé, while Hoss discovers that the bull has been spirited away by a little boy who is convinced that the Cartwrights plan to kill and eat his big bovine friend.