Best of the West

- Season 1

(1981)

Immediately after the Civil War, a union soldier takes his southern belle wife to Montana, planning to open a general store and helping change part the wilderness into a thriving community. He has to battle not only the crooked town boss, a notorious gunfighter but his family that are desperate to return to civilization.

When Sheriff Lattimer arrives with a prisoner and gets ill from an embedded arrowhead, Sam has to take over. He has to then deal with the eight brothers who arrive to set him free.

Doc sends for a mail order bride. And when she arrives the gang learns that she's more experienced than Doc thinks she is. And it's at the wedding that she reveals the truth.

When the Calico Kid arrives he announces his retirement as an outlaw and takes on a chef's role at the saloon. However, when a gunslinger challenges him to a gunfight, a plan is needed to avoid bloodshed.

Elvira's father, a Confederate Colonel who stopped talking to her because she married a Yankee, Sam, comes for a visit. But he's still not talking to her. Sam tries to fix things between them.

Tillman is accused of rustling and is cleverly saved from a lynching mob by Sam. A trial is held, but Tillman's witness doesn't help his case and he is found guilty and promptly sentenced to be hanged.

Posing as Patch Beaudrey, Sam Best enters a den of thieves to find evidence of Parker Tillman's innocence.

Tillman's candidate for new town marshal, Nat Lindsay, wins the election, but he is not as suitable a choice as he seems to be. Everyone, including Tillman, are affected and he has to be stopped.

According to the mountain man father, his daughter is married to 10-year-old Daniel, after a shotgun wedding. Sam seeks advice on the legalities.

Laney gets a date with Tom Hudson, who bids for her at the Copper Creek Box Social. Elvira and Sam help her dress up herself (and her cabin) for the big evening of surprises.

When the railroad is planning to choose between two locations for their line and one of them is Copper Creek. So the town needs to send someone to meet with the railroad to convince them to choose them. And the ones who are chosen are Sam and Tillman. When they get there, the railroad is looking for a respectable town and Tillman says they are; they even have a church which they don't. The railroad decides to pick Copper Creek. But when a representative from the railroad shows up they need to pretend that they are a congregation. The representative tells Sam that the ...

Sam accidentally shoots himself in the leg and the townspeople think it happened when he went after the Barlow Gang. Despite his embarrassment when they find out, they show confidence in him as their marshal.

Sam is puzzled when Elvira leaves home after he brings home a horse for her, when she is unhappy about her lifestyle. He has to find a way for her to return home and be happy.

Amos Skinner comes to town to marry his unhappy girlfriend Merilee, but finds she has been flirting with Frog and wants to kill him. This leads to a confrontation in the saloon.

The Calico Kid wants to marry his girlfriend Nora and, since he needs a steady job, wants to apply for Marshal at Twin Forks. However, he needs some schooling and to pass the third grade test to get the job.

Tillman announces the opening of the first bank of Copper Creek - in his office. He is captured by outlaws who hold him for $10,000 ransom. However, the townspeople are reluctant to help him.

Elvira is not happy that her stepson Daniel has not yet fully accepted her as his mother. While exploring the outlaw caves out of town, an accident brings them closer together.

Sam confronts the father of a boy who is bullying Daniel and tells Big John Fletcher to make his boy stop. However, the two end up fighting in an arranged boxing match.

Sam apprehends a female outlaw. Sam has to bring her in for trial. And Elvira is uncomfortable because she's an attractive woman. Later she escapes and when Sam tells them what happened, it's hard for anyone to believe that she outwitted him. Especially since she comes back and says it's because of him.

A man Elvira was engaged to but because he was shot during the war, she met and married Sam instead, has come to town. He tells Sam that he wants her and intends to ask her to go with him. Sam is told by the gang not to do it. But he lets her go anyway. Tillman then tells him that he can spy on them if he wants to through the bear on the wall.

Sam learns that a man he arrested escaped and is probably on his way to get him. So he and the others wonder how he will do it. And Frog points out that a woman who just came to town, appears to more familiar with the town for someone who just came. So Sam asks Tillman to go talk to her but what they don't know is that she is the man in disguise.

In order to outwit the Dugan Gang, Sam agrees to a plan to transport $20,000 contained in a coffin to Silver City. Frog hides in disguise in the coffin to enable the plan to succeed.