As the wagon train approaches the end of the trail, Hale's crew and passengers deal with birth, death, romance, a clash of different faiths, anger, gambling, a medical emergency, and a cooking contest as they prepare to separate.

Barnaby and Charlie talk Chris Hale into hiring legendary mountain man Zebedee Titus as a scout. The nearly 80 year old Zeb's failing eyesight leads to problems including Coop's being captured by the Comanche Zeb couldn't see.

Coop brings Link Cheney to the wagon train after the professional gambler is wounded by sore losers in a game. Link is nursed back to health by Dorthea Gillford, and the two fall in love, but Dorthea hopes Link will quit gambling.

At the town of Stark Bluff, Duke stops by to visit an old friend, only to find that friend is now dead. His widow is forced to work for Zeb Stark, who is ruthless in his intimidation of everyone, including elected officials.

Kim Case is returning home during Indian wars after schooling in the east although her parents have died. She is anxious to return to the man she loves, Lance Starbuck, who is an Indian raised by an Army Major from a young age.

With Chris gone Bill is in charge of the train when Barnaby goes overboard in his pranks. After messing with a wagon wheel, Bill orders him to fix it by himself causing Barnaby to break his leg causing a major rift between them.

Ben Engel and his employee Harry Diel are moving the Engle store to the west. During the Civil War, Engle paid Diel to take his place. Diel was subsequently decorated as a war hero.

Duke and Bill are rescued from Indians by a stranger. He joins the train which is headed to Fort Chacon. Unknown to them he is an Army officer. Members of the train are offered stolen Army supplies creating a problem for the officer.

A murderer is on the loose in the town of Bedrock. Marshal Trace McCloud has been unsuccessful in capturing the killer. When most of the population joins the wagon train, so does the killer.

Beautiful but shrewd Pearlie Garnet was forced to leave the wagon train after she was found to be a liar, manipulator, and thief who stole from everyone on the train.

When Melanie Craig is widowed in a wagon accident, she enjoys life as she believes her husband would have wanted her to. There is no shortage of men who want to court her. 

Duke Shannon is arrested and charged with criminal negligence, being the only survivor of an expedition into the badlands. The investigation is being headed by Senator Harold Elliott and Major Ogden. He must retrace his steps with the Army and one of the victims' father.

After being fired and setting a bomb which kills his tyrannical boss, Grover Allen joins the wagon train and heads west with his widowed daughter-in-law Della and grandson Jeff. A detective searching for Allen joins the wagon train.

Independent freight line operator Kate Crawley and Christopher Hale are attracted to each other. Stump Beasley has his own sights focused on marrying Kate Crawley.

Chris Hale has loaded up on supplies because he has learned the Army has closed the normal trail so the wagon train is forced to take a difficult and dry route through the desert. Judge Arthur Forbes questions Hale's decisions, as do others. Geneva Balfour ignites a fire in hopes she and her husband Aaron will turn around and head east.

Jed Whitmore, one of three brothers that committed an infamous train robbery, is now town sheriff Frank Lewis but his brother released from prison comes to town with a fellow inmate and a reporter to get paid for the Jed Whitmore story.

Julie Holland is falling for Michael Malone, a man haunted by the death of his sister. Meanwhile, the marriage of Ben and Beth Mitchell is strained because of Beth's increasing bitterness toward her husband and her feeling of unworthiness.

Fenton Canaby is unjustly reputed to have led a wagon train to disaster in the desert. He unexpectedly becomes part of Hale's train as Hale has some of the same problems Canaby had and the train carries a widow wanting revenge against Canaby.

Cassie Vance is accused of theft when money and items belonging to a woman on the train that she nursed turn up missing, and especially after another woman recognizes Cassie as having served time in prison for theft when young.

While in the desert, Cooper finds a prospector who is lost and near death from exposure and thirst.

The Bleecker gang attempt to use the wagon train to rob a fort.

Sandra Cummings is an escapee from a Confederate prison. Against her wishes, Cooper Smith takes an interest in her daughter Paula.

Kitty Pryer finds herself in a bigamous marriage to Victor Harpe, who asks her to join him on the wagon train posing as the wife of a friend until he can divorce his wife. However, Victor's change of plans puts Kitty in unique peril.

Eli Bancroft became an outlaw looking for revenge raising his three sons as such after a town's citizens banded together and forced his entire family to uproot, fearing they would catch their illness. Coop and others become his victims.

On the train Coop is falling for the sister of the man running a gang who beat and robbed Coop in Hell's Kitchen in Brooklyn. Coop believes the man who says he is going west to change but his goons are still plying their scam on the train.

After witnessing a bank holdup, Barnaby is taken hostage by outlaws Sam Spicer and Reno Sutton. Sam takes a liking to the boy as he reminds him of himself when Reno first made him a partner but Reno doesn't trust Barnaby.

A woman tries to save her sister from a miserable life in a mining town.

A British newspaper reporter rides along on the wagon train to observe the Wild West.

When Duke and Charlie do not return from a scouting assignment, Chris sends Cooper who has a pretty good idea what lays ahead. The Chinese widow of an Irish Ship Captain wants Coop to carry on her husband's empire.

A tough railroad executive and his younger college educated brother are guided by Chris up a mountain to scout a route. When is accidentally shot by the younger brother, the older brother is forced to make a tough decision he may regret.

As the wagon train reaches Fort Pierce, it is in dangerous Indian country. Chris is hoping the Army will provide an escort when they leave, but the Colonel refuses due to Army orders. In fact, he wants the lone woman there to leave with the train.

After leaving St. Joseph, Hale tells everyone there are no Indians when in fact two escaped Comanches have stolen horses and shown up at the wagon train's first stop. There, the female wants to kill a man... her cowardly husband.