Top-rated
Wed, Mar 15, 1961
Flint meets Chris Hale alone on the prairie. Hale has just found his entire family massacred by Indians, and Flint asks him to join the wagon train. However, the company that owns the wagon train has hired a new wagonmaster, Jud Benedict. Benedict is a ruthless and brutal tyrant who puts time above all other considerations, and does not care how many people are left behind or even die in the process of heading to the final destination as soon as possible. He has also hired unscrupulous gunmen to enforce this goal by brutalizing slower people, or anyone who stands up to him. It is revealed that Hale has also been a wagonmaster, but has retired from the job and does not ever want such a responsibility again. Still, people on the train are looking to Hale to stand up to Benedict.
Wed, Apr 5, 1961
When actress Nellie Jefferson joins the wagon train, her incessant demands for special treatment come to grate on Hale and Hawks, but Wooster is totally smitten with her. Meanwhile a fanatical man from her past is following her, talking about how she will meet her fate like the biblical Jezebel.
Wed, Apr 12, 1961
Saul Bevins, a blind doctor traveling with his son, his sister, and his dog, asks to join the wagon train. Many others on the train object that he will slow them down, but Hale agrees to let him ride at least until the next settlement, at which time the entire wagon train will vote on whether he should continue. On the way Bevins is forced to overcome many obstacles.
Wed, Apr 19, 1961
Polish immigrant Joe Muharich tries to befriend and hopefully straighten out Johnny Kamen, a brash young man who doesn't take well to anyone giving orders to him. Joe has lost his wife and son to thugs, and now he reacts violently to any attempt to harass or intimidate him. When Johnny accidentally shoots a woman while reacting against drunken thugs, Joe tries to defend him. But the thugs who harassed Johnny then harass Joe and start fire to his wagon, causing Joe to react by shooting the men and killing one of them.
Wed, May 3, 1961
The Santee family---Will, his mother, and his younger sister---join the wagon train under a false surname. They have been forced out of town after town because of a terrible thing a family member did. They confide in Hale, Hawks, and Charlie, who agree to keep their secret from the others on the train. But it soon comes out anyway, and things get complicated when Will falls for a young woman from the wagon train.
Wed, May 17, 1961
Flint goes to visit Eleanor Culhane, an old flame of his who had been married to a notorious gunman. He finds everyone in the town she lives in shunning her, and unwilling to discuss her, because they blame her for her husband's misdeeds and the shame he caused the town. When Flint finds her they begin to rekindle their romance. But then her husband, thought dead for the last five years, shows up in town. And Flint realizes there is another side to Eleanor that he was unaware of as well.
Wed, May 31, 1961
After losing one of her children in an accident, a woman becomes bitterly resentful of the wagon train and plans to turn back east, while her husband wishes to continue west. Hale, in an effort to persuade her to continue, tells her the story of his own trip west with his family and the ensuing tragedy.