The High Chaparral

This pilot launches the saga of the Cannon family as they fight to establish a ranch in the Arizona territory of the 1870s. Marauding Apaches led by Cochise are on the warpath. The Army orders the Cannon family to move on, but Big John Cannon won't budge. While his brother Buck rides off to recruit gun-carrying cowhands, Big John learns of another enemy: a Mexican land baron claims the Cannon property, and dispatches his men to seize the cattle.

John Cannon's first wife is killed during an Apache raid. Buck, his brother, can't stop Mexican bandits from rustling cattle. Unable to fight on two fronts -- against Mexican marauders and the Indians -- John arranges a defense agreement with his neighbor in Mexico, Don Sebastian Montoya. The Mexican insists that John seal the agreement by marrying Victoria, his daughter, thus solidifying an alliance against the Apache. Moreover, Don Sebastian demands that Victoria's carefree brother, Manolito, come along to guarantee her safety.

Victoria's efforts to overcome husband John Cannon's memory of his first wife are thwarted when Apaches lay siege to their ranch, and she is kidnapped. Victoria is exchanged for an injured Apache and receives two opportunities to live in safety and leave the husband who doesn't love her. Former suitor Anthony Grey rides in with an offer to take her to England, as Indians attack in earnest. Don Sebastian, her father, arrives with armed vaqueros to break the siege and insists his daughter return to the safety of her home in Mexico.

John Cannon must decide whether to send his son to possible death to save their besieged ranch. Three army deserters, who have murdered Apaches on Cannon land, are taken prisoner by Indians. Captain Dabney fails in an effort to rescue the men, but gains Apache hostages, including a female relative of Cochise. When Captain Dabney refuses to trade prisoners, and as the Apaches prepare to execute the deserters (as well as Sam, who is also an Apache hostage), Cannon must decide whether to hand son, Billy Blue, the perilous job of secretly returning Dabney's hostages to Cochise. Guest Stars: Warren Stevens as Captain Dabney, Nino Cochise, grandson of Cochise as Cochise.

Buck, Manolito and Billy Blue are sent to Tucson for food, supplies and boots, but are sidetracked instead by women and song. While John Cannon awaits his trio's return with the goods, Buck promptly enters a poker game with cowhand Kansas and loses the supply money, Manolito courts Pearlita who rolls him for his money, and Billy Blue sets out with little Rag-Tag Tina to buy the fanciest pair of boots in Tucson. Problems grow when the boys try to help Fergus MacLeish and his wife from being held up, only to lose the guns they need in Tucson.

The future of the ranch is jeopardized when bandits steal a prize bull and breeding stock which Billy Blue Cannon and Manolito Montoya have bought in Mexico with the last of the Cannon money. Victoria persuades husband John Cannon to send the boys to her father's rancho for the cattle after his brother Buck Cannon is injured. Manolito bargains with his father, Don Sebastian Montoya, for his second best bull. Don Sebastian thinks the boys are pulling a prank and hires bandits to steal the bull. They boys make a desperate attempt to catch the thieves and still prove their trustworthiness.

An Indian outbreak threatens to erupt when Billy Blue Cannon and an Apache boy fight over a wild horse. Chatto, son of an Apache chief, first discovers the prized stallion, but fails in his attempt to capture it. When Billy Blue successfully ropes the horse, Chatto becomes infuriated with Cannon and steals it back. Billy Blue retaliates and a feud begins. Chief Natchez approaches John Cannon and warns him of trouble if Chatto loses the horse. The two boys meet and fight while High Chaparral wranglers and Apache braves watch and prepare for battle.

When John Cannon feeds hungry Apache children orphaned by Pima Indian attacks, his ranch is threatened by the two tribes. Buck and Billy Blue find the young Apaches in the desert including Choddi, grandson of Geronimo. Geronimo and his braves come for the children, but the young Apaches mistake them for Pimas and hide in the desert. The Apaches threaten revenge if they are not returned, while Pimas wait nearby endangering the children.

Ranch foreman Sam Butler returns to his native border town to avenge the death of his daughter. Sam, raised by his adopted father Ben Lynch, learns his daughter has been killed by Lynch's would be gunfighter son, Tom. Reunited with his Mexican wife Trinidad, Sam refuses all advice and vows to kill the boy. John Cannon leads the ranch hands to the border city in an attempt to stop the shoot-out.

Buck Cannon's plans to open a saloon are threatened by a temperance group led by spirited Frances O'Tolle. Oscar Hipple sells his saloon to Buck, but conceals the fact it was wrecked by Miss O'Tolle's crusaders. Buck hires Warren Case to help restore the saloon and learns Miss O'Tolle started the crusade when she came West to marry Case, but found him drunk. She leads a second assault and Buck's deputized customers jail her for trespassing.

Mexican bandit El Lobo breaks jail and plots to plunder the Cannon Ranch supplies to avenge his imprisonment by Manolito. When heavy rain prevents wagons from reaching the ranch with needed supplies, Buck, Billy Blue, and Manolito attempt to get a mule train through. El Lobo traps the group in an isolated canyon.

Don Sebastian Montoya repudiates his promise to sell a small village on his land to tenants after Vaquero obtains the purchase money. Vaquero received the money from a dying friend to buy the village. This matter becomes complicated when he learns the money may have been stolen by his friend and bandit, Miguel Morales.

A gunfighter attempts to goad Blue into a shootout. Participating in his first trails-end celebration that traditionally follows a grueling cattle drive, Blue joins his father John Cannon, Uncle Buck and Manolito and the town's other weary but happy cowhands in observing the occasion. A barroom argument develops between Blue and short-tempered Johnny Keough, who invites young Blue outside to settle the matter with their guns. Well aware of the obvious advantage the well-known gunman Keough has over him but also concerned about his own pride as a result of being publicly challenged, Blue finds himself facing one of the most important decisions of his life.

For the first time in his life, Manolito falls seriously in love but his romance takes a tragic turn when Comancheros decide to settle a debt. Enamored of beautiful Mercedes Vega De Sonora, a childhood sweetheart who returns to the Montoya ranch for a visit after a long absence, Manolito proposes marriage. Their plans are disrupted when bandits led by the vengeful Sanchez and Teniente kidnap Mercedes in an ambush. Though seriously injured, a desperate Manolito joins the men of the Chaparral in search for his loved one.

Buck angrily parts company with his brother John when a long-smoldering family feud is brought out into the open. Fed up with menial jobs on the Chaparral, Buck is ignored when he complains to his older brother John and so he leaves the ranch once and for all. When Blue also turns against him, John finally agrees to go after Buck who refuses to return.

After accidentally uncovering a silver deposit, an excited Buck Cannon wastes no time in talking Manolito into joining him in a major real estate investment. Unable to raise the down payment to Jeff Patterson, who has agreed to sell his ranch, Buck invites Manolito to be his financial backer for half-interest. After Victoria has turned over a priceless necklace to her brother for collateral on a loan, the new land owners learn hat their silver cache is worthless.

Bandits take advantage of Manolito's affinity for a pretty face by absconding with one of his girlfriends and cash, the theft of which threatens the loss of the Cannon ranch. Entrusted with money to buy a huge cattle herd, Manolito is overpowered by Matar and Kyle who head for the border with both the booty and Manolito's fiery girlfriend, Juanita. John Cannon, Buck and Blue and Manolito give chase but it is the feminine wiles of Juanita and Victoria Cannon with which the bandits soon learn they must contend.

Left in charge of the Chaparral, Blue fails in his first major test of responsibility and then takes drastic steps to redeem himself. In the absence of his father, John Cannon, his Uncle Buck and Manolito, Blue is given full authority to run the ranch only to have their prize stallion stolen by bandits. Hurt by his father's criticism and determined to regain his confidence, Blue faces the bandits alone in his attempt to retrieve the valuable horse.

Embittered former revolutionary Diego De La Paula leads his newly-formed army of liberation in a series of harassing raids on the vast lands and herds of the Cannons and Montoyas. He charges they won their wealth at the expense of his deposed hero, Maximilian. Aware of the seriousness and growing destructive power of the vengeful Diego, John Cannon and Don Sebastian Montoya join forces to thwart the attacks with a unique plan that results in a face-to-face confrontation between the elder Montoya and the self-styled liberator. good show

Needing to get away temporarily from the rigors of ranch life, Buck chooses the raucous Fourth of July holiday for the time and the roughest town in the territory for the place Soon after his arrival in Spokes, a lawless community run by tough China Pierce, Buck witnesses a saloon shootout in which Pierce's son Bud is killed by Jones, an old friendless trapper who is seriously wounded. Although it was a fair fight, cowering townspeople refuse to help Jones, so Buck goes to the man's aid and then mounts a vigil to await the inevitable explosive confrontation with Pierce.

A half-breed Indian lad whose life has been saved by men of the Cannon ranch strives to repay the debt. John Cannon, Buck and Manolito intervene when ranchers Fraley and Henderson attempt to hang Wind, whom they accuse of rustling cattle. The boy's indebtedness later figures significantly in the defense against a series of mysterious and costly raids on a major cattle drive.

Returning home from a visit to her father's ranch, Victoria and her escorts Sam and Pedro find infant Joey, the only survivor of an Indian raid on his parent's wagon. When the boy's grandfather, Dan Casement, spared only because he had gone ahead to scout for water, insists on leaving with the child, a concerned Victoria balks, insisting that she can better care of the baby en route to the safety of the Cannon ranch. Relenting, Casement joins them in their slow trek across the desert while Indians stalk them, awaiting the best time to attack.

Returning home from a visit to her father's ranch, Victoria and her escorts Sam and Pedro find infant Joey, the only survivor of an Indian raid on his parent's wagon. When the boy's grandfather, Dan Casement, spared only because he had gone ahead to scout for water, insists on leaving with the child, a concerned Victoria balks, insisting that she can better care of the baby en route to the safety of the Cannon ranch. Relenting, Casement joins them in their slow trek across the desert while Indians stalk them, awaiting the best time to attack.

Fearing for the life of his threatened brother Buck, John Cannon accepts the demands of a blackmailer. Confronted by the demands of one-time gunman Tulsa Red, John has little choice but to turn over $5,000 to the man who has threatened to goad Buck into a shootout that John knows his brother will lose. Upon learning of how he was used, an angered Buck takes his own steps to recover the money and his pride.