Trama

Joe and Hoss shelter a pregnant Indian from a blizzard -- and Shoshones ordered to find her.

Hoss (Dan Blocker) and Joe (Michael Landon) have been hunting big horn sheep in the mountains for two weeks. They haven't had much luck and Hoss says it's time to return. They plan to pack out the next day.

That night, an Indian holds a knife on Joe. He wakes up and the two wrestle briefly. Coming to Joe's aid, Hoss leaps over the campfire. But in his haste he knocks in their supplies and ammo. Bullets start to fire in every direction. Hoss and Joe take cover behind trees, but the Indian just lays still on the ground. When the "attack" is over, they check on the Indian and discover that she's a pregnant woman who's due any day now. Joe wants to get her to a doctor as quickly as possible, but Hoss is afraid she'd die on the journey.

Joe goes looking for traces of her people, but discovers she was traveling alone and intentionally heading southeast. She's Shoshone and that would take her into Paiute country. The only thing they can figure is that she was heading to Virginia City for some reason.

With their supplies gone, Hoss has cooked wild beans which Joe can barely tolerate. When they try to feed the Indian woman (Chana Eden) she ignores them. She won't respond to any of their questions either. Hoss finally gets her to eat saying she needs to take care of the baby. To Joe, this means she understands English, but Hoss thinks she's just worried about the baby.

Hoss builds the woman a shelter while Joe attempts to find food. He doesn't have much luck. Despite the fact that they're clearly trying to help the woman, she still refuses to answer their questions. Joe's more worried about her having the baby because, as he tells her, "what we don't know about delivering babies would scare you to death."

Over the next several days, they manage to catch duck and rabbit to eat. Then finally, the woman goes into labor. After some initial panic, Hoss delivers a healthy baby boy and presents him to Joe to keep warm by the fire. When he returns to the woman, she asks, in perfect English, if her baby girl is perfect. Hoss, stunned at how well she speaks, says he's perfect, but he's a boy. She isn't happy to hear that which just confuses Hoss. When he returns to Joe, Joe announces that the baby has blue eyes. His father must be a white man.

Joe finds a Shoshone amulet. He thinks her people are around, but doesn't understand why they don't just attack. Hoss says the amulet could've been left months ago. Joe's getting angry with the woman because, even though she speaks English, she still refuses to speak to them. When she sees the amulet, she turns away in fear. Joe belives it's because her people have come for her. But Hoss says it's a war piece and it's forbidden for a Shoshone woman to even see it.

The weather turns worse and even though the woman's not ready to move, they have to get off the mountain. As they make their way down, Joe has the feeling they're being watched. That night Hoss takes first watch.

Hoss wakes up from dozing on his watch to find a Shoshone knife embedded in the tree he's leaning against. He wakes Joe and they know it's a warning. They still don't know why the Shoshone haven't just attacked, but go to wake the woman and keep moving. She's gone. She covered a log with her blanket to look like she was sleeping and left with the baby.

As she hurries down the mountainside, four Shoshone chase her. Hoss and Joe aren't far behind and start shooting. The Shoshone run off as the woman hides in the bushes. Ben (Lorne Greene) and Adam (Pernell Roberts) have been out looking for Hoss and Joe, since they're a week overdue, and hear the gunshots. They find Hoss and Joe who try feably to explain.

They've managed to get the woman back to the Ponderosa. Ben is angry that Hoss and Joe would interfere with the Shoshone. They defend themselves saying they couldn't just leave her. Hop Sing (Victor Sen Yung) comes down the stairs complaining that the next time they bring home a baby they should bring a laundry boy too. He doesn't have time for diapers.

In the woman's room, the doctor (Carlyle Mitchell) tells the Cartwrights that the baby, surprisingly, is fine. But the woman has a very high fever. When he's departed, the woman asks for her baby. Ben's concerned when he sees the pained look on her face.

Ben's staying up late that night, when Hop Sing rushes downstairs to say the woman needs help. He has Hop Sing send Adam for the doctor while he bathes the woman's face with cool towels. He asks her to please tell him who the father is so that he can send for him. She is silent and then dies quietly.

There's a knock at the door and Sumner Kyle (Raymond Bailey) demands to see Ben. Ben comes down and politely greets Sumner and his son, Jason (Steven Terrell), but he and Sumner are not friends. Sumner gets to the point. Jason is the Indian baby's father, as Ben must know, and he's wants the woman sent away. He'll pay for her silence. Ben tells him not to worry, the woman never revealed the father's name. Jason insists he was married to her in a Shoshone ceremony and still loves her. But, he had nothing to offer her that didn't belong to his father, including himself. He wants to see the woman. Ben says she's upstairs, but that she died. Sumner even tries to stop Jason from going then, but Ben holds him back.

The Cartwrights, Hop Sing, and Jason, bury the Indian woman. As they have a small funeral, the Shoshone arrive. One is chief in a full headdress. After the prayer, Jason asks to have his son. Ben tells him that they just buried the chief's only child, but the bloodline continues in the baby. Nothing will keep the chief from his grandson. Jason asks to have his baby and asks Ben to tell his father that he went home. Jason takes the baby and rides away with the Shoshone.