With every hoofbeat, history is made.
The Virginian
The Shiloh Ranch in Wyoming Territory of the 1890s is owned in sequence by Judge Henry Garth, the Grainger brothers, and Colonel Alan MacKenzie. It is the setting for a variety of stories, many more based on character and relationships than the usual western.
Episodes
Shiloh's new owner arrives on the same train as five men who The Virginian recognizes from wanted posters. He fears they are involved in a potential range war between the big and small ranges resulting in multiple lynchings.
Trampas and Pick Lexington visit old friends in Mexico. Trampas is caught between Pick and one of his Mexican friends as both men fall for the same girl. He hopes to stop them from dueling each other while the girl chooses between them.
The Virginian helps a woman being attacked in her hotel room only to learn she is an old girlfriend. They are on a stage together which loses a wheel in the desert stranding them while being chased by the men but she won't say why.
Trampas wins a steamboat in a poker game on a steamboat but the money is confiscated for being stolen. When he tries to collect on the steamboat he won, he finds himself involved with an outlaw gang and a crooked boat owner.
Col. MacKenzie rescues a man, Tate (Lee Majors), from a lynching for a shooting he saw to be self-defense. MacKenzie is traveling on a train with the young daughter of a friend who believes she is in love with Tate who has an outlaw background. This is the first episode to include Roy Tate, although Lee Majors had been shown in the opening credits since the start of the season.
The Virginian arrested by a posse while on a trip is accused of murder. He is taken in for a trial by a less than proper judge who is also the hangman. When no one listens to him, he escapes to find the real killer and prove his innocence.
A group of German immigrants is repeatedly threatened by night riders who want them out due to prejudice. Tate becomes involved after the daughter of the leader of the immigrants mistakes him for the gunman they hired to protect them.
Trampas is arrested for the murder of a man he argued with over a mine. The law seems primarily interested in wrapping up the trial as quickly as possible so they can go fishing. Trampas's hope lies with his attorney, Frances B. Finch.
MacKenzie is injured saving Tate on a cattle drive. Tate takes him to Concho for help only to find the doctor there is in jail and to hang the next day. Tate is able to secure his release but finds that it comes with some high costs.
The Virginian hunting for lost Shiloh cattle finds the trail leads to the New Life commune. Not only is one of the leaders holding his cattle, it becomes clear he is holding two women hostage as well complicating the work of The Virginian.
At the same time the Colonel's niece is visiting from England, Trampas is one of the suspects in the killing of a fellow ranch hand based on his custom gun. Trampas believes four brothers killed their cousin but how can he prove it.
MacKenzie is in New Mexico to buy cattle when he meets a female New York writer who takes an interest in the local Comancheros who are hated locally and especially by the Sheriff. Her story results in her kidnapping and trouble for all.
Trampas comes to the aid of a girl and her father who had a heart attack. At the father's request he helps them at their destination and then to try to find the girl's mother who is with outlaws. He finds the girl has her own mind on it.
Col. MacKenzie is shocked to learn his friend was killed assaulting a business woman by her brother in their house. As the Colonel gets to know her, the relationship turns to love but he soon learns the brother may tear them apart as well.
The Virginian is sent to check out the Bonham ranch which is up for sale. Once there he finds himself caught in the fight between the brothers Foster and Jack who own the ranch and involved in the murder of a woman he once knew.
On the way home Tate finds himself in the middle of hunting party where the prey is a young Shawnee boy. Tate discovering the boy is deaf-mute takes him to jail after learning he is wanted for murder but finds he becomes the boy's lawyer.
In nearly abandoned Spencer Flats, Trampas is held by Della and Annie Spencer, who accuse him of being outlaw Deke Slaughter, though their handyman is not so convinced. Then the real Slaughter rides into the town, claiming to be a sheriff.
The Virginian is sent to look at buying an Angus herd from a widow. He arrives to find that someone is causing problems for her on the ranch ever since her husband died months earlier. Her son believes it is a neighbor but she disagrees.
MacKenzie meets a girl in a daze who is thrown off her horse. He takes her to the cabin of the hermit Muley. Initially, the girl doesn't react to them but she slowly recovers some memory. A stranger arrives saying she is wanted for murder.
Tate helps ramrod a small ranch when the owner leaves to buy new breeding stock. However, the owner's plan to fence his pasture is met with strong resistance by a neighbor stopping Tate plus a surprise arrivals adds to the problems.
During the Ghost Dance movement a troop of soldiers visits Col MacKenzie to warn him and the ranchers. Parker as does MacKenzie recognizes Sgt. Mulcahy as a long thought dead Lt. Baxter from MacKenzie's Lancer regiment in India.
The Virginian on a business trip to Montana finds himself in an area where protection is provided by an ex-outlaw to several towns. All is well until he is forced to kill one of the enforcers. That puts his life on the line with no backup.
After being mauled by a cunning wolf he has been tracking, and then robbed of his possessions by a stranger, MacKenzie is taken in by a homesteader and her son. The wolf, however, is still at large and MacKenzie is determined to kill him.
After stopping in the town of Jump-Up to see an old girlfriend, Tate is cheated in a card game by a gambler, and then framed by town boss John Timothy Driscoll and his son for killing the man, and forced into a hard labor camp.
