After Snowbird gives Mike an Indian pony, Flash, in thanks for her work at the reservation Mike tries to enter the Territory Stakes Race, but race officials, Loren and Jake, won't allow a woman to ride. Dr. Cassidy arrives from Denver with his champion horse and spurns Mike attempts to speak to him colleague to colleague

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

Halloween is trick-or-treat for the residents of Colorado Springs when Sully's dead wife, Abigail, haunts Dr. Mike, after Sully suggests fixing up the homestead for her. Eventually, Mike is able to lay Abigail's ghost to rest

Jake, Loren and Horace are out hunting when Jake, mistaking an Indian for a deer, accidentally shoots and kills him. During the melee, Horace is wounded by an arrow, which Mike treats. Loren and Jake, frightened and guilty, try to cover up Jake's blunder by declaring that the Indians attacked

Love finds visiting faith healer Sister Ruth, in the form of Kid Cole, who's revisiting the town in order to jail a desperado he's apprehended. The desperado's two brothers have followed him to town and stalk him. Kid Cole, strangely fatalistic, seems to have lost the will to live

Mike receives an emergency telegram from her sister Rebecca -- her mother is gravely ill. Mike rushes to Boston to her mother's side, the Cooper kids in tow, where Dr. Mike and her ""roughhewn"" children are met with raised eyebrows by Dr

Sully arrives in Boston and discovers that he's facing worthy competition for Mike's affection in the form of Dr. William Burke. Sully at first settles uncomfortably into Mike's Boston surroundings, but later, with prodding from the kids, submits to a grand makeover

Mike and Sully have trouble adjusting to the new status of their relationship, ""courtin'"". Sully introduces Mike to his world, taking her into the woods, showing her how to track and hunt. Mike pressures Sully into coming to a town meeting, where tempers flare over the scarcity of water

Colleen and Becky become best friends when, at Bray's store, Alice, another friend, insists on taking Colleen's favorite fabric to make a dress for the Sweethearts' dance. Dorothy fears she may be pregnant when she faints in the general store. Mike assures her she is not, but she is beginning the ""change of life""

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

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

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

Mike and Sully work to treat a typhus epidemic at Black Kettle's camp, which begins after Mike and Sully unwittingly convince Black Kettle to accept government blankets infected with the virus. Mike is heartbroken and guilt-ridden as she battles the tribe's typhus epidemic. When Matthew comes down with typhus, the town panics and locks the children in the clinic alone with Horace

A ragtag circus, consisting only of Heart and Atlantis, a mother-and-daughter team, arrives in Colorado Springs. Heart, the mother, enlists the townsfolk to participate as performers. Everyone accepts but Mike, whom Heart tries to engage as a trapeze performer

Catherine, a beautiful blond woman captured by and raised with renegade Indians, is brought to Colorado Springs by soldiers when her tribe, which includes her husband, is wiped out, leaving her the sole survivor. She initially earns the townsfolks' sympathy, then their contempt when she rejects their gestures of kindness, doesn't know the language, and falls down into an epileptic fit. Indeed, her Indian name was ""Shivering Deer"" thanks to her grand mal epileptic seizures

Eight orphans arrive on the train. The Reverend takes them in at the church and Mike nurses their ailments. When no one in the town wants to adopt the orphans, the Reverend extends a proposal of marriage to Mike so that they can raise the orphans together

A troop of black cavalry soldiers ride into town intending to cover themselves in glory by eradicating hostile Dog Soldiers who've been attacking the railroad. Mike commits an act of civil disobedience by tipping off the Indians, which results in carnage on both sides and the defeat of the Buffalo soldiers. She's accused of treason, and jailed, but the arrogant black cavalry leader, Sergeant Zachary Carver, manages to exonerate her when he's made to realize, through the combined efforts of Sully and Mike, that his beloved troops are nothing more than pawns in the U

When Julius Hoffman rides into town and engages Matthew in a poker game, Matthew thinks he's found a great way to earn money to finish he and Ingrid's homestead, although Mike and Sully disapprove. At first, Matthew wins steadily, though he and Ingrid get into a terrible fight when, after missing an elaborate dinner she cooked for him (he was in a game), he confesses he used her hard-earned laundry money, which she gave him for building supplies, as a stake. Though Ingrid and Mike disapprove heartily, Matthew continues playing the game, even after he gets beaten up and robbed of his earnings

Tom Jennings, Dorothy's son, shows up in Loren's store one day when Mike and the kids are there shopping. He's a Civil War Veteran with an old war injury -- his leg was almost blown off. Dorothy asks Mike to treat him when he complains of pain in his seemingly healed leg

Robert E buys a house in town. When the auctioneer, Jedediah Bancroft, sees that he's sold the house to a black man, he tries to renege, but Mike intercedes. Later, Mike is surprised to learn that Jake, Loren, Hank and Dorothy are displeased to have Robert E and Grace living in their midst

Rev. Johnson's in love with the town's new schoolteacher (Sherry Hursey), while Mike's concerned about the woman's wanton use of corporal punishment in the classroom

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 Jake go head-to-head when both campaign for the Mayorship of Colorado Springs. At issue: whether drinking and prostitution should be outlawed. Myra finally breaks loose from Hank

Only the town's love for the infinitely unlovable Hank can pull him from the brink of a deadly coma. Meanwhile, Colleen and Brian tangle when Grandma Quinn sends Brian but not Colleen a present

When ""Andrew Strauss""—really David Lewis—the fiancé whom Mike had presumed was killed in the Civil War, visits Colorado Springs. Mike is forced to choose between him and Sully. Also, Horace and Myra experience pre-nuptial tension when townsfolk start taking over the planning of their wedding for them

Mike is torn between two lovers when, in a blast from the past, her presumed-dead Civil War fiance, David Lewis, whirls into town to reclaim Mike from the arms of Sully, her current fiance. Also, Horace keeps ""losin' the mood"" when it comes time to consummate his marriage with Myra