Original title
The Big Valley
Released
9/15/1965
Origin country
FR, US
Genre
Drama, Western
Status
Ended
Number of seasons
4
Number of episodes
112
The Big Valley is an American western television series which ran on ABC from September 15, 1965, to May 19, 1969. The show stars Barbara Stanwyck, as the widow of a wealthy nineteenth century California rancher. It was created by A.I. Bezzerides and Louis F. Edelman, and produced by Levy-Gardner-Laven for Four Star Television.
In this series premiere, the railroad has hired men to force the farmers and ranchers of Stockton off their land. The Barkleys join with the rest of the valley to help fight them off. While at home an angry young man, Heath, shows up claimimg to be the deceased Tom Barkleys' illegitimate son.
While preparing for a major cattle drive bunching the Barkley's herd with those of other ranchers, Heath has major difficulties being accepted as a Barkley, especially by the ranch hands. Then when Nick's former commander in the war comes to visit, Heath is suspicious of him, and with good reason. He is there to cause trouble and steal the herd!! Nick ends up getting shot while on the drive and has to be taken to town, leaving Heath in charge of the drive. Heath ends up saving the day, and finally the hands begin to accept him as a true Barkley.
Victoria begins to wonder if Tom ever truly loved her, if he could go off and have an affair which produces a child. So she's off to Heath's hometown Strawberry to find out more about Tom and Leah's (Heath's mother) relationship.
Audra is save by a man who claims to be a mustang hunter, but who's band of mustangers are also extorting protection money from the farmers and ranchers of Stockon. While Audra is smitten with him her brothers are suspicious, and soon find out the truth. Which Audra does as well. . .after she is kidnapped by them.
Victoria sells land to an old friend, while the Barkley boys are part of a plan to flood it!!!
While Heath investigates violence at one of the Barkley mines, he discovers that the miners hate the Barkley's for unkept promises. This discovered they work to set things right before anything else happens.
Heath falls for a beautiful spanish girl, whose father happens to be involved in a land dispute with the Barkleys! Her father disapproves of Heath because of his illegitamate birth, picturing a much finer bred man for his only daughter. He sets about using the land problems to break them apart.
An old childhood friend of Audra's returns whom she'd like to be involved with. She doesn't know however that he is emotionally disturbed, dangerously so.
Victoria is in a mission church with a pregnant indian woman, when an earthquake collapses it into a forgotten mine underneath. As if the situation isn't isn't bad enough. . they are also trapped with a man whom Nick had fired and who now has a serious grudge against the Barkleys.
Jarrod defends a man accused of murder, even though the only witness is his own brother, Heath!!
When one of Nick's old friends, Mariano Montoya, comes through town on his way to sell his cattle, trouble hits in the form of deadly anthrax. The man's cattle begin to die off and it seems as though they will have to shoot them all, killing as well Mariano's dreams for the money. Until Eugene tells them of something called immunization, which he believes will work. Mariano isn't so sure however and tells them that to prove it works, the Barkleys must first try it on their own prize bull!The bull collapses and it looks as though it has been killed but then it moves and gets up, it works!! Mariano's herd is saved!
When Nick is bitten by a rabid wolf, he makes Heath swear not to say a word, and leaves town so his family will not have to witness what will happen to him.
When the Barkleys invite the foreman of their logging operations to dinner, Heath walks in and tries to kill the man on sight. It turns out that the man is Matt Bentell, the warden of violent, horrible Carterson Prison, where Heath was held during the war. A man whom he had sworn to kill if he ever saw him again. The family comes up with the brilliant idea to send Heath up to the logging camp with the man to help with the building of log flumes, and to protect the man whose identity has been brought into the open. Heath ends up saving his life and learns that people can change.
A group of irish immigrants settle down on Barkley land, believing that they bought the land legally. Nick, along with the others at first, believes they are merely squatters. They, however, refuse to believe that the land does not belong to them.
Jarrod decides to bring home one of his clients, a young woman named Maybelle, for Christmas. Her accused crime aiding and abbetting her outlaw boyfriend, a boyfriend who recently escaped from jail and is now looking for Maybelle.
While out counting cattle Heath comes across a dead animal. When he gets down off of his horse to investigate, he is shot by the same rawhiders who killed the cow. When they realize that he is still alive, they decide to take him back to the ranch for a finder's ""reward"". Once there they find that all of the other men are gone for at least a week, leaving the house and all within ripe for the picking.
Nick returns from a trip from San Francisco with a big surprise. . . a fiance!! While he is completely smitten with her, the rest of the family isn't so quickly won over. They see the truth, that she's just not ready to leave behind the life of parties and numerous suitors, to which she has become accustomed.
Jarrod is happy to see an old law school friend. . until he learns there is a secret service agent on his tail. It seems everywhere he goes counterfeit money follows, and Jarrod is determined to find out what's going on with his old friend.
Mistaken for the schoolteacher, Victoria is kidnapped by an outlaw who wishes to learn to read.
A guilt ridden Jarrod offers to help a man that he helped to convict of a crime that Jarrod now knows that he did not commit. Even though the man threatened to kill Jarrod at the trial.
While having a birthday drink at The Barbary Red saloon with two of his ranch hands, Nick is shanghaied.
Handy Random, theman who killed the man that killed Tom Barkley, comes to Stockton. It's a happy reunion for all but Heath who hates the man, and for good reason. Everywhere he goes he starts range wars to profit from them.
Heath feels that his friend's injury and paralysis is his fault, and ends up being used by the man.
A man comes to the ranch looking for Heath and gets shot by bounty hunters. It turns out he's not a friend of Heath's like he stated, in fact Heath has sworn to kill him himself.
Heath's childhood sweetheart Libby suddenly reappears in his life, bringing nothing but trouble.He ends up thrown in jail, accused of the murder of Liberty's drunken husband, by the new D.A. who's out to prove that the Barkleys power and money can't buy everything. It's a race to prove Heath's innocence and save him from a fate at the end of a rope!!
When Victoria and Heath head up to the lodge to prepare things for the whole family, their pleasant ride turns into a nightmare. After becoming stuck in a muddy section of road, Heath gets out to help push, only to have the axle break and the heavily loaded wagon fall on him. Unable to free him herself, Victoria sets out to find help. She soon finds that the only person able to help is an escaped convict with bounty hunters on his tail, and no intentions of stopping to help anyone.
When a riverboat belonging to the the Barkleys, which sank years before taking with it a fortune in government gold, is recovered, the gold is nowhere to be found. Rumors and accusations soon fly, that it was Tom Barkley who stole the gold and sank the boat to cover it up. An investigation follows which seems to prove that Tom was guilty, a fact that could cost the Barkleys their fortune!!!
Audra falls for a man out to make money off the other ranchers in the valley, by taking their land.
Some men try to dig a tunnel from a general store to the train depot next door, to steal the Barkley's gold shipment.
While on their way to the fair in Sacremento, Audra is stricken with a severe case of appendicitis. Fortunately there is a doctor on board, unfortunately he is being chased down by men who wish to see him hang.
A con man comes claiming to be Heath's real father, not Tom Barkley.
Part 1, Heath is down in Mexico where an old friend of the family escapes arrest, fleeing to the Barkley ranch. Heath is imprisoned to be held in exchange for the general.
Nick and Jarrod head to Mexico to break out Heath, who has already broken out and been recaptured.
An old friend of Audra's has a new , very young, stepmother who likes him as more than a son, and is jealous of Audra.
Victoria heads alone into the desert to find a sick indian before he reaches, and infects, his people.
Jarrod defends a Basque sheepherder.
A candidate for governor, Joshua Hawks, who had been traveling up and down California spreading lies and causing trouble, comes to Stockton.His target this time, The Barkleys, his story, that Tom Barkley stole every inch of land that they own. He chose the wrong family to mess with this time though, because the Barkleys don't lie down for anyone they come out fighting. Against the wishes of his campain manager, the man who fabricated the story, he decides to, foolishly, stay and fight. Jarrod decides not to bring about a libel charge against Hawks, knowing that it would only result in a long drawn out court battle. Instead he asks the senator to form a committee of four men to decide on the case. Hawks cooks up a scheme to murder the committee and blame it on the Barkleys, he even kills his campaign manager when he decides to leave him, after he has found out Hawks' plan. The plan backfires however and Hawks' ends up getting himself killed instead. In the end The Barkleys get the good
A woman asks Nick for help, pretending to be on the run from her former outlaw boyfriend. It turns out that she was with him all along, and was merely using Nick.
Jarrod gets amnesia while far from home.
Bumbling thieves hold Victoria and Audra hostage as they try to open a safe at the train station.
While in a strange town, Heath and Nick buy a bull from a man who turns around and has them arrested for stealing it. The sherrif catches up to them while they sit around their campfire, and a fight ensues in which Heath badly burns his leg in the fire. The crooked sheriff takes them to a road gang prison to await trail. . .in a few months!! The cruel warden refuses to allow Heath a doctor and makes him work alongside the others. They soon find out the real reason that innocent drifters are arrested and imprisoned, free work labour for the man whom the Barkley brothers had bought the bull from. Meanwhile, at home Jarrod has found out what has happened to his brothers and heads out after them. Arriving at the prison he demands to see them and when the warden refuses he threatens him with legal action if he is not allowed to see his clients. After he speaks with them he rides off to find the circuit judge. Getting scared that the truth will come out now that he realizes who he's dealing
Heath and companions are stranded in the desert, miles from civilization or water!!!!
Victoria and Audra are held captive in the church by an outlaw and her sons.
Nick accompanies a gypsy to her wedding.
Audra falls in love with a man on the run.
A man tries to get his peaches to market.
An old beau of Victoria's comes to town, but he is not the man she remembers.
15-year-old Lud Akely is determined to take care of his younger siblings without any help from the Barkleys, who are trying to help find the mother who abandoned them.
Victoria witnesses a murder, committed by her godson, and is thrown in a sanitarium to prevent her testimony.
An old ranch hand tries to prove he is still useful, by capturing a wild stallion . . . alone.
Gunman turned senator Jud Robson comes to Stockton, and soon begins to say he is being stalked. The main problem with his story, he is suspicious of EVERYONE.
Nick manages an injured boxer, in his last fight.
A fake faith healer comes to Stockton.
An old war friend of Nick's is being courtmartialed, along with Nick himself!
Heath is sent to protect an evacuated town.
Heath travels to bring his brothers money for a water pump, but a gambler wants to relieve him of it.
Heath and company transport a wanted outlaw and must fight off his brother.
Nick goes to find the daughter of a seriously injured ranch hand, with unexpected results.
Heath is wrongfully arrested for attempted rape, and is helped by a nun who used to be his girlfriend.
Nick captures an eagle, and a dynamiter causes trouble at a Barkley mine.
A man is hired at the ranch who is believed to be a Mexican outlaw thought long dead.
Victoria helps three indian women at a desert mission.
To pay off a gambling debt, sheepherder Josiah Freeman pawns off his flock on Nick, who stubbornly tries to tend the troublesome sheep — despite insults and threats from his fellow cattlemen
Jarrod is temporarily blinded.
Heath and family help a wayward saloon girl.
Nick stops at an inn where they kill people for their money.
A client of Jarrod's escapes and takes over the schoolhouse where Audra is substitute teacher.
While on a layover in a strange town, Audra disappears without a trace, leaving her desperate mother to find her.
A deranged doctor moves to town and makes Victoria, then Audra, his next victim.
Part 1, A forest fire rages drawing closer to Stockton. The only solution, a firebreak made with nitroglyceryn!!
Part2, The Barkley boys volunteer to take the nitro to the fire!!
Victoria is grabbed by men on their way to a prison, who need to replace the female prisoner they killed.
While traveling through a strange town, a murder occurs and an innocent man is accused of it. Heath saw the man who really committed the crime, a fact which gets him more trouble than he bargained for.
Accused of killing one of their people, a band of ""religious"" take Heath captive, where he is forced to work as a slave to the widow of the dead man.
The Barkleys hire a bunch of convicts to help with a harvest, and find out that they are tormented by an evil overseer.
Heath and Nick travel across the state line to find the two brothers that shot Jarrod in the midst of a robbery. What they find is a town full of people who think of the outlaws as saints, since they're the ones who built the town. In the end the town finds out their true colors and they are brought to justice.
After his new bride is murdered, a grief stricken Jarrod goes out for revenge.
When the Barkleys meet a Mexican fleeing a revolution, they vow to help protect him
When the Stryder gang escapes, Heath and Nick want to help catch them
Jarod defends Heath in court when he is accused of murder.
A couple kidnap Victoria in exchange for rice
When Jarod goes to Rimfire to conclude a merge of two mines, trouble starts.
Nick falls for newcomer Layle Johnson, who is slow to respond to his attentions. Victoria discovers why - she's already married!
A friend of Heath's has been carrying on a correspondence courtship with a woman who is to be his mail-order bride.
Nick sets out to emotionally help a 14 year old boy who is rejected by his high-class parents.
When a senator arrives in Stockton to promote his re-election, troubles flare when his opponent releases a fraudulent photo.
Victoria's first clue of Major Jonathan Eliot's mental imbalance is when he proposes to Laura.
One of the former confederate spies arrives in Stockton.
When a Cattle Rancher suffers amnesia, he believes that Victoria is his Wife.
After a panther nearly kills Nick, he wants revenge.
When Jarrod visits Baker City, he gets involved in a Mexican Marital mix-up.
The Barkleys hire a man famous for his bad luck to help harvest their crops.
When Heath falls in love with a woman, he doesn't realize how dangerous she is, and what could happen to him.
A young girl witnesses a massacre, and is now being stalked. Victoria must stop this before it is too late.
When Heath kills someone in self-defense, he becomes a wanted man
When Jennie's house is ransacked by three gunmen, Nick realises his practical joke wasn't so great after all!
When Heath is asked to look after a wanted man's baby, he gets himself into trouble.
Nick is believed to be having an affair with a man's wife, and the man plans to hang Nick in the morning
Victoria learns that her brother-in-law has been declared insane.
Everyone has lost their patience even before the annual rodeo has begun
A wealthy and powerful rancher moves into Stockton to ruin the Barkley enterprises. His motive: intense hatred of Jarrod, who he thinks is having an affair with his young wife.
Someone has robbed the Dutton Mining Company, and Heath is taking the blame.
An indian friend returns to Stockton
The prison conditions worry Victoria
When a prince from India comes to Stockton, Laura falls in love with him. However, the prince is an imposter.
Bigots harass a Mormon family who have rented a house from Jarrod.
Victoria and Jarod spend the night in a town which has seen better days
The formar Sheriff of Stockton is the leader of a gang gone on a killing spree.
A ghost town is inhabited by lunatics who capture Heath.
Victoria has Edward deliver her medical supplies to the indians
A woman asks Heath to convince her rebel Mexican husband to leave Mexico
The final episode of The Big Valley
This website uses TMDB and the TMDB APIs but is not endorsed, certified, or otherwise approved by TMDB.
