Finally ready to work again after giving birth to her baby, Dr. Mike must lead a rescue party when Sully and Cloud Dancing are among the passengers on a train that has been overtaken by robbers and wrecked. Sully had negotiated Cloud Dancing's release from Army detention, and the two were taking the train to Colorado Springs when a gang of thieves derailed the train in an effort to rob it. Meanwhile, Dr. Mike must again face the prejudice against women doctors when she finds that the townspeople have become used to being treated by young Dr. Andrew Cook who filled in for her while she was on maternity leave. For his part, Andrew has become reluctant to return the practice to Dr. Mike and go back to Boston, as originally agreed.

Dr. Mike returns to work after giving birth to Katie, but has a hard time trying to balance her professional life, wifely duties, and being a new mother. Sully feels neglected.

Dr. Mike is charged with malpractice and must stop treating patients during the lawsuit, leaving medical matters to the young and reluctant Dr. Cook.

Colleen considers leaving college when the famous singer, Gilda St. Clair, offers her a job traveling the world with her.

Dr. Mike's attempts to befriend a Latin American woman are rebuffed; the Reverend Johnson searches for a teacher to take his place.

When Sully is offered a job helping to survey the new National Park at Yellowstone in Wyoming, Dr. Mike is faced with the prospect of leaving her practice and all their friends and moving into the wilderness. With Sully no longer acting as the local Indian agent and banned from the Indian reservation, Dr. Mike realizes that it is important for him to have work that is meaningful to him. Leaving everything and everyone she knows and taking their new baby into the wilderness, however, is a daunting prospect for her. Meanwhile, as Matthew and Emma think about marriage, Brian agonizes about his first date at the Sweethearts' Dance, and Dorothy teaches Cloud Dancing some ball room dances while he provides her with background on Indian customs for a book she is writing.

When Jake and Preston run against one another for mayor of Colorado Springs, they both want Dr. Mike's endorsement, until she is arrested and thrown in jail for treating a fugitive Indian. After Sully and Cloud Dancing rescue the Indian from the Army and Dr. Mike is arrested for treating his wounds, Dorothy hatches a plan to set her free. Meanwhile, with the election only a few days off, Jake promises Robert E a seat on the City Council if he can deliver the black vote, and Jake and Preston hold a debate so that the townspeople can decide who is the better man.

Dr. Mike tries to reunite a father and son before it's too late when a sick old prospector staggers into town and Jake Slicker recognizes him as his father, who deserted his family years before. The prospector, Lucius, is played by veteran stage and screen actor Ray Walston who won an Emmy Award as Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 1995 for his regular role as Judge Henry Bone on Picket Fences, on the Network. Lucius claims not to remember his son, and Jake is sure he is faking memory loss out of guilt. However, Dr. Mike believes she recognizes in Lucius the signs of senile dementia. The anguish Jake feels is a painful reminder to Brian and Matthew of their own father's desertion. Meanwhile, the huge gold nugget Lucius waves around ignites gold fever in Colorado Springs, especially in Horace, who sees wealth as a way to get his wife, Myra, and daughter, Samantha, back.

Dr. Mike, Sully and Matthew join forces with a legendary marshal to track down the outlaws who wounded Matthew during a bank robbery. Legend says that Marshal Elias Burch has killed more than 100 men. So, when the robbery of Preston's bank causes the townspeople to question whether or not Matthew can really carry out the responsibilities of being sheriff since he doesn't wear a gun, Matthew is determined to learn from Burch and prove he can kill outlaws as well as any other peace officer can. As Dr. Mike and Sully try to stop the bloodshed, Preston and Hank also stalk the robbers, with Hank envisioning the reward money going toward the new hotel. Meanwhile, widowed school teacher Teresa Morales struggles to maintain repairs on her ranch but is too proud to accept Jake's offer of help -- until Brian steps in.

As Dr. Mike and the other residents of Colorado Springs prepare for the Thanksgiving holiday and the opening of Preston's new hotel, they are unaware that a deadly storm is approaching that could threaten their lives. As storm clouds begin to gather, Dr. Mike is trying her limited culinary skills in an attempt to create a traditional Thanksgiving meal - while a somewhat dubious Sully and Brian watch her efforts. But the joy of the holiday is threatened by more than bad weather when she learns that Andrew is opening a rival medical clinic and, worse yet, neither Matthew nor Colleen may be able to get home for Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, Preston Lodge III is finding that it isn't easy impressing his visiting father, the very formidable Preston Lodge II, who is in town for the new hotel opening. As the full fury of the storm hits and Dr. Mike fights to save herself and her baby, the entire town learns the real meaning of Thanksgiving.

Dr. Mike, Sully and Brian are drawn into the middle of Colorado Springs' racial problems when Grace and Robert E try to enroll their son, Anthony, in the all white school. After Jake is forced to keep his campaign promise and make Robert E a member of the town council, Robert E sets up a school for the black children in shanty town. Since no white teacher will teach the children, however, the job falls to Grace. When it becomes apparent that Anthony needs much more advanced schooling than the black school can provide, Grace, Robert E and Brian try to get him into the white school. Meanwhile, Jake and Hank open their own hotel to rival Preston's new one, and the battle for business escalates.

Dr. Mike desperately attempts to find out why patients are dying mysteriously after having been treated in her clinic. As Dr. Mike searches for the answer to why a deadly and mysterious infection haunts her clinic, the townspeople begin to fear coming in for treatment. Unable to find out what is causing the deaths, Dr. Mike then makes a fateful decision that could mean destroying everything she has worked for through the years. Meanwhile, the attraction between Colleen and Andrew grows while she is home from college for a visit.

Brian suffers a crisis of faith when the Rev. Johnson is suddenly stricken with progressive blindness at Christmas time and Dr. Mike can't help him. The townspeople are saddened by the Rev. Johnson's affliction, but Brian sees the malady as God's way of punishing the clergyman. The Reverend Johnson's faith is also tested and he decides not to lead the Christmas Eve service. Meanwhile, Dr. Mike consults with Cloud Dancing about the situation, and it's he who finds the words for Dr. Mike to explain to Brian and the Rev. Johnson that they should not consider the blindness a punishment from God, but instead a message that the preacher is to take a new path

When Sully opposes the construction of a nearby dam, he finds himself on the other side of the law and behind bars. Sully joins forces with Preston to try and peacefully stop the dam construction which will mean the end of hundreds of acres of countryside. But when Sully hears that the men Preston's hired to hijack a shipment of dynamite are determined to kill any witnesses, Sully rides with them in order to prevent the murders. However, when witnesses attest to the fact that Sully was riding with the hijackers, Matthew is forced to arrest him and Sully must go to court where Judge Webster finds him guilty and throws him in jail, creating discord in the family.

On a visit to Colorado Springs, Dr. Mike's revered Uncle Theodore shocks her and Sully by criticizing their parenting skills with regard to Brian and offering to take Brian back with him to Boston. Brian considers leaving his family when Theodore, a concert pianist, recognizes the boy's musical talent and tempts him with visions of becoming a concert pianist in Boston. Actually, Theodore dislikes what he considers to be the liberal attitudes of Sully and Dr. Mike that he feels put Brian in danger. When Brian is injured while on the trail with Sully, Theodore can no longer hide his feelings and Dr. Mike realizes that her uncle is attempting to replace his own lost son with Brian.

Dr. Mike sees that the marriage of Kid Cole and Sister Ruth is unraveling and the couple is heading for divorce for no apparent reason. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash reprise their roles as Kid Cole and Sister Ruth. When Cole and his wife stop to see Dr. Mike while escorting mail-order brides to San Francisco, Dr. Mike immediately feels the tension in the air between them. She then learns that Cole is terminally ill and, in an attempt to spare Ruth the agony of watching him die, has created problems in their relationship so Ruth won't feel obligated to care for him. Ruth, meanwhile, is devastated at her husband's behavior and talk of divorce and seeks Dr. Mike's advice.

When Colleen, who is working on a college paper, asks Dr. Mike to recall her most memorable case, Dr. Mike looks back on the five turbulent years she's lived and loved in Colorado Springs. As they sit with Andrew, who is mysteriously ill at the clinic, Dr. Mike reminisces about her tumultuous career -- its successes and its failures -- and realizes how many divergent cases she as seen and treated. When Andrew's condition takes a turn for the worse, Dr. Mike warns Colleen about the fine line between emotional involvement and professional detachment, an issue with which she has long struggled in the frontier town that's now her home.

Sully's best friend Daniel arrives for a visit, but the relationship becomes strained when Daniel offers Sully money at a time when Sully desperately needs it to save the homestead.

After Preston calls the loan due on the homestead while Sully is gone, Dr. Mike reluctantly accepts Daniel's offer to pay it off, further straining relationships. Things are also complicated because Daniel has fallen in love with Dr. Mike.

Dr. Mike, Brian and Katie are taken hostage at the homestead by bank robbers, one of whom is wounded. After Dr. Mike is taken hostage by Brent and Huston, she watches helplessly as Sully, returning from a trip is shot by Brent as he approaches the house. In spite of his injury, Sully, with the help of Wolf, Cloud Dancing and the men-folk in town, plots a rescue attempt. Meanwhile, inside the house with the two desperate robbers, Dr. Mike and Brian do some quick thinking and -- with the help of some chloroform -- distract the men while they scramble to come up with an escape scheme of their own.

Dr. Mike and the townspeople excitedly welcome the famous writer and poet Walt Whitman to Colorado Springs until rumors about his personal life begin to circulate. When Dr. Cook brings to light the rumor about Whitman preferring the company of men, Preston, who is playing host to Whitman, abruptly cancels the poet's reading, the townspeople shun him, and even Dr. Mike finds herself acting with suspicion when she learns that Whitman has taken Brian under his journalistic wing.

When he gets the papers for his divorce from Myra, Horace attempts suicide and almost succeeds. His friends do what they can to help him, but it turns out that depression isn't always cured that easily.

Michaela gets a surprise visit from her sister Marjorie, who turns the town upside down with her radical ideas. But even though Michaela partly agrees with Marjorie, she has to ask her to start thinking about other people's feelings.

Sully and Brian forge a true father-son bond when Brian's free-wheeling, irresponsible adolescent behavior puts him in mortal danger, and Sully disciplines him. As Brian's stepfather, Sully has let Michaela set the rules for Brian up to now. But when Brian's misbehavior with his friend Anthony puts them, and the town, in danger, Michaela and Sully realize that Brian needs -- and wants - Sully to act as Brian's real father and give the boy the boundaries he needs, which enhances and strengthens their bond.

Sully becomes a wanted man when he defies a government order banning him from the Cheyenne reservation and organizes an escape for Cloud Dancing, which turns deadly. The savage beating of Cloud Dancing at the hands of a brutal cavalryman makes Sully realize that life on the reservation for his friend is no longer tolerable. Even Michaela realizes that drastic measures must be taken. But Sully's intercession has deadly repercussions. During the escape, long-repressed dog soldiers go wild, exacting revenge against the Army and local families, and the result is a massacre for which Sgt. McKay holds Sully responsible. Now with a price on his head, Sully convinces Michaela that it's safer for the family if he disappears for awhile, and so they say a tearful goodbye.

Sully tries to get Cloud Dancing to safety in the north, while the actions of the renegade dog soldiers take their toll on the town. But when Sully and Cloud Dancing spot soldiers closing in on them, Sully insists on distracting the riders, giving Cloud Dancing the opportunity to escape. As Sully draws the soldiers away from Cloud Dancing, he finds himself trapped on a ledge by Sgt. O'Connor, who has wanted to kill Sully since the last time they fought, just before Katie was born. While they begin a ferocious hand-to-hand battle, Michaela and Sgt. McKay, who have been trying to find Sully before O'Connor does, reach the ledge, and Michaela discovers that they are too late.