Dr. Mike takes in Red McCall, a down-and-out cowboy, and his ailing half-breed infant child. McCall reaches the end of his rope trying to care for his baby, so after robbing Loren's store, he leaves the baby in Michaela's care, sensing she could find a suitable home for his child. Dr. Mike's attempts to find a home for the baby prove futile.

When she travels to a remote cabin to check on the health of it's owner, she finds him badly mangled from a bear attack. Her horse is frightened off by the bear, and she's marooned in the cabin until Sully shows up looking for her. They narrowly escape being the rabid bear's next victims.

After returning to town, Dr. Mike decides she'd rather raise the child herself than turn him over to an orphanage. However, Sully locates Red and convinces him to keep the child.

After ambushing Black Kettle's camp, General Custer enters the town carrying wounded soldiers and Indian prisoners, including Cloud Dancing, whom Custer threatens to kill if Dr. Mike does not treat his men before the injured braves.

Later, Dr. Mike treats Cloud Dancing's broken arm while he remains shackled in the livery after Custer's interrogation. When Custer jokingly hauls Cloud Dancing before a firing squad that fires blanks, Dr. Mike and Sully engineer Cloud Dancing's escape.

Meanwhile, Olive opens a Hurdy Gurdy, recruiting girls from the immigrant camp and a reluctant Loren, Horace and Jake for the band. Matthew buys all of Ingrid's dance tickets then shyly confesses that he doesn't know how to dance. Robert E. and Grace exchange looks. Robert E. is still burned from The Visitor (#3).

David Watkins, a civil war photographer arrives in Colorado Springs. Dr. Mike diagnoses David's diabetes and is frustrated that he refuses treatment and will ultimately go blind. David suggests taking a portrait of the town and an argument ensues over who will be in it. When the camera equipment is destroyed, the whole town must pull together to create a camera and take the photo before David's eyesight fails.

At the same time, Mrs. Bing, Horace's mother, is brought to town, seriously ill. Mrs. Bing disapproves of Myra until she learns how much they love each other, and on her deathbed bestows her blessing on their marriage.

Dorothy, Loren's sister-in-law and old flame, is introduced as an abused wife who defends herself against her husband's assault, then seeks shelter with Loren. Marcus Jennings, Dorothy's husband, persuades Dorothy to return home with him, which she does. Later, they have another fight and Dorothy returns. Unfortunately, after the couple's last fight, Marcus is found dead, and Dorothy is the prime suspect. Mike defends her at the trial, but in the end Dorothy is found guilty. At the eleventh hour, Mike performs an autopsy on Dorothy's husband and proves Dorothy's innocence; Marcus was suffering from acute cirrhosis of the liver. Dorothy remains in town and Loren gives her a room at the General Store and helps her get started on her own newspaper, ""The Gazette."" Meanwhile, Snowbird, Cloud Dancing's wife, leaves Cloud Dancing's teepee when tradition dictates he take in a widow as his second wife.

Mike is called away to Soda Springs to help with an outbreak of influenza and Sully promises to stay with the children. Sully plays ""Mr. Mom"" but the kids grow restless. While out exploring caves with Brian, Sully is shot trying to intervene between the Indians and the cavalry. When the smoke clears, Brian can't locate Sully and goes to town for help. The Reverend helps the kids hide Sully, who now has a bounty on his head. They take Sully to the cave for safety. Colleen enlists the Reverend's help to bring supplies from the clinic, but he is spotted by Hank and Jake, who are out for the bounty. They knock Hank out and tie him up, but when Colleen is forced to remove the bullet, she must employ Jake's assistance to save Sully's life. When finally they ride back into town, the Cavalry tries to arrest Sully for blowing up the railroad, but the townsfolk provide Sully with an alibi preventing his arrest.

Mike's Christmas Eve gets off to a bad start, triggering a personal crisis for Mike. Through no fault of her own, a patient dies of a heart-attack on the operating table as Mike performs a routine operation on Christmas Eve. The deceased man's family blames Mike. Later, at home, the Cooper kids bicker. Next, as Mike, Sully and the kids are on their way to the town's Christmas Eve party, Robert E comes to ask Mike to deliver a baby for a couple who's just come into town. The couple, married against their parents' wishes, are on the run. Robert E offers them the use of his stable for the birthing, as the couple's fathers, who're in close pursuit, will certainly find them at the clinic. Mike goes to attend the delivery, which causes her to miss the event.

Miners gather in front of Loren Bray's store to protest Loren's not extending credit to striking miners, and for doing business with the mine owners. A budding union leader, Conrad, is there trying to organize the workers. At the same time, Travis Stone, the mining boss, rides up, hands out flyers advertising for scabs. An angry miner throws a stick of dynamite onto Loren's porch, which Sully, who gets knocked out in the subsequent fray, comes to just soon enough to put out. Matthew takes a flyer -- decides he'll take the job to augment building costs on his homestead. By doing this, he's at cross-purposes with Sully and Mike, who try to talk him out of it.

Grace tells Loren she won't be buying anything from him until the strike's over, due to his unfair trade practices with the striking miners. Matthew finds, to his dismay, that Loren charges 10 cents on every dollar of ""scrip"" (miner's credit) for ""bookkeeping"" costs. Later, as Mike administers some bicarbonate of soda (Brian's got a

Mike and Sully get caught in the crossfire when, while visiting the Indian reservation, they see renegade Dog Soldiers shoot some Cavalry men. Mike is kidnapped in retaliation when the Indians discover she told Custer what happened; Sully vows to find her. Meanwhile, Brian falls in love with a horse Hank wins in a poker game.

Sully sets out to rescue Mike. Meanwhile, Custer takes the Indian reservation hostage, threatening to hang everyone unless Mike is returned. Brian works off the cost of the little horse; but Hank reneges on the deal, inciting Loren's wrath. Mike and Sully return to town just in time to keep the Indians from getting hanged. Hank, not anxious to pay double for all his goods at the General Store, delivers Taffy to Brian on his birthday, declaring that, ""Sometimes it's just good business for a man to keep his word.""

Sully argues with Mike that they should move if the railroad comes. Meanwhile, Matthew feels left-out of Sully's new homestead plans.

Loren plans a trip to Bolivia to prove he is not getting old; Brian seeks to prove his courage by camping out alone. The two become inadvertent allies as they battle the advances of a hungry bear. Also, Jake and Hank's practical jokes get out of hand, culminating in injuries to them both, until they agree to make up

Mike, Sully, and Cloud Dancing head to Washington, D.C., to lobby on behalf of the Indians.

Sully is imprisoned when he accompanies Dr. Mike and Cloud Dancing to Washington to lobby on behalf of the Cheyenne.

Mike and Sully run into now-married Kid Cole and Sister Ruth and invite them home for Thanksgiving, but the coach is hijacked, forcing them to journey home, on foot, through Indian country. Also, the Cooper kids scramble to put Thanksgiving supper together. Kid Cole: Johnny Cash. Sister Ruth: June Carter Cash.

Mike discovers a lump in Dorothy's breast and performs a mastectomy on her. Meanwhile, Colleen must deal with the unwanted attention of a new boy at school who fixates on her impressive bust. Finally, Jake, dressed in drag for Ladies Night at Hank's saloon, gets kidnapped and held hostage by an amorous outlaw, but escapes.

The town invites a traveling all-star baseball team for a fundraising event, but later suspects that they have been swindled. Otis James: Joel Anderson.