First Trampas and then Holly and Elizabeth encounter a military prison wagon crossing Shiloh land carrying a prisoner who appears to have scarlet fever. When he escapes, they are worried who may be infected with the disease.
Clay tries to prevent a range war between the ranchers and homesteaders who are blocking their path to market. A hothead rancher hires a gunfighter on the sly who happens to be an old friend of Trampas who falls for a homesteader.
Clay decides to take on three convicts on parole to test whether they can be rehabilitated at the urging of a prison warden. The three get off to a rocky start as they are obvious misfits with no experience and one has a bad attitude.
Elizabeth finds a man shot in the shoulder. She and Clay return him to Shiloh but the hands are gone. The two plus Holly help the man recover but a bounty hunter arrives looking for his quarry as Elizabeth only sees the good in him.
Trampas, Stacey and Elizabeth are caught in a sandstorm while returning to Shiloh with a bull. They take refuge in an abandoned homestead where several guests arrive after them with one thing in common - connections to a robbed bank.
Kiley Cheever tired of his dad's treatment heads to Medicine Bow to find his childhood friend Trampas and a job. Kiley's tendency to make up stories and prove his manhood gets him into trouble with everyone but a female visitor to Shiloh.
Stacey breaks his arm and injures a nerve in his shoulder during an accident with a girl friend. When his recovery is questionable, she abandons him due to family induced emotional constraints, putting Stacey into a deeper depression.
A legal fight over a strip of land between Shiloh and the Bowden ranch turns nasty. The fight over cools when the Bowdens mistakenly believe Shiloh has hired a gunfighter but turns serious when they learn he is just a simply handy man.
Sheriff Dan Porter leaves his job in Mason City to follow his wife Emily to Medicine Bow as she can't handle the pressure of his job. He signs on at Shiloh to learn ranching so he can start a ranch and new life with his wife.
While hunting a cougar, Trampas catches a sick and starving boy stealing his grub. The boy won't say anything other than his name is Seth. He helps Trampas and returns to Shiloh where he stays until they track down his shady uncle.
David Sutton takes a job at Shiloh to make up for the work Trampas can't do after being involved in Trampas breaking his leg. He has a hard time fitting in with the other hands while a girl he met earlier tracks him down to help her.
Photographer Dan Sheppard arriving at Shiloh to take pictures of western life finds a neighbor ranch is owned by an old girlfriend. She is in a tug of war between the an oil speculator and the local ranchers afraid of polluted water.
Tim Bradbury wants to recreate the cattle ranch he had in Texas and feels Clay Grainger owes him the help. His son Walt wants to farm instead while his son Mike who works at Shiloh puts the family in financial peril with his gambling.
Elizabeth is blinded by a stagecoach accident. She is found by Ben Oakes who wanted to kill Trampas who had to miss the stage. Ben tries to help her home but becomes lost. After they are found, She is in love with the conflicted Ben.
The Virginian and Trampas are to meet a man on business near the Canadian border. They have to stay over at a remote hotel due to a storm where Trampas finds a woman who robbed him years ago and Metis rebels who are after her fiancé.
Shiloh hand Rafe Judson is mistaken for an outlaw as the two men look identical. When Rafe loses an option on a ranch due to a lack of funds, he decides to take advantage of the situation to rob a stagecoach without taking the blame.
The Shoshone girl Nai'Be returns to Medicine Bow from an eastern school as a young lady but conflicted on her future. Her childhood sweetheart Tza'Wuda is waiting for her as is a conflict with a rancher forcing her tribe to move its camp.
Shiloh and its neighbor's cattle herds are threaten by an outbreak of anthrax. A wounded man and woman wanting horses tell Clay the stage with a vaccine was robbed and they are chasing the outlaw gang so The Virginian and David join them.
Trampas receives an unfriendly reception when the tries to visit an old friend. Once he finally sees Jason, he learns not all is as it seems. They clash over the building of a dam in Nebraska after Trampas learns about an earlier dam.
The Virginian on a rare trip to visit a friend Jingo in a remote valley when he finds a woman unconscious. At Jingo's cabin she recovers from a fear induced catatonic state but with amnesia but thinks The Virginian is her lover.
The Virginian and David are to pick up a herd of horses Shiloh needs for a cattle drive. The horses are stolen from the seller so they must catch and break a new herd but a conflict between a father and his son over his future intervenes.
Clay's old sweetheart Nora and her husband a Major in the Army stop at Shiloh. Nora tries to impress everyone with herself and her down to earth husband. She is willing to put others lives on the line to help her husband win a promotion.
Trampas and David are sent to buy a bull at Durango for Shiloh. The Virginian vouches to Clay that Trampas can be relied on but it is David who finds himself in trouble. He agrees to be engaged to a woman he bumps into on the street.