The Big Valley

War hero Jonathan Eliot intrigues Audra, but her brothers feel there is something more than slightly off-center about his obsession with purity.

One-time Confederate spy Julia Saxon visits Stockton to much vilification. She is accused of murder, and Jarrod agrees to defend her despite his own mixed feelings; he was once in love with her.

Victoria loses her memory when injured in a stage accident. She is nursed to health by a rustler who can't resist telling her that she is his (late) wife, whom he misses so much.

Nick is attacked by a mountain lion. His physical injuries are bound to heal, but he suffers from terrible nightmares. Despite his condition, he is determined to track down the cat himself to face his demons.

Jarrod arrives at a town to handle a land transaction only to find that the men he was to meet have disappeared.

Things start going wrong with the fruit harvest when Waldo comes on the scene. The ranch hands firmly believe he's "Jonah," and pressure Nick to fire him.

Gang-leader Dillie falls in love with Heath and wants to settle down with him. Her brothers don't approve and Heath has no wish to marry her.

Audra witnesses a brutal killing and goes into a catatonic state. The killers trail the stagecoach on which Victoria is accompanying Audra home. They destroy shelters and salt wells to force the passengers to surrender Audra.

Heath saves the life of a hired killer who is on the way to Stockton to kill…Heath.

Nick inadvertently causes problems for the town dressmaker when, as a joke, he tells a ranch hand that the woman is a missing member of an outlaw gang. When Nick realizes what he has done he tries to undo the damage.

The Barkleys take in the infant son of a wanted man. The baby's father is searching for him, and a bounty hunter lies in wait.

On his way to buy stock in a county he has never been to before, Nick is arrested and accused of having an affair with a local landowner.

Victoria wonders if she is being lied to; she is told her brother-in-law has gone insane, but she's refused admittance to his sickroom even when he is sedated.

Nick is relieved when, after betting $5000 on a rodeo against a rival ranch, he hires a brilliant all-around cowboy, ex-slave Joshua Watson. When the rival Mortons learn how good Joshua is with a gun, they claim he is an outlaw and say that if he doesn't turn himself in, they'll take him in or kill them.

Adam Howard believes that his wife has been having an affair with Jarrod. He buys a neighboring ranch and sets out to harm the Barkleys in every possible way.

Nick and Heath travel separately to a mining town to investigate a collapsed mine. When Nick arrives, he finds a hostile populace — and no Heath.

Modoc Indian Tom Lightfoot returns from Harvard to find that not everyone is willing to treat him with respect. His bitterness leads him to turn against even his long-time friends, the Barkleys.

Victoria impersonates a sneak thief so she'll be sent to prison. There, she'll gather evidence on the terrible conditions.

Jarrod's headstrong ward, Laura Haydon, falls in love with a Punjabi "prince," unaware that he's a confidence artist.

Jarrod rents a farm to a Mormon man and his two wives, who have wandered the West since being expelled from Utah when polygamy was outlawed.