City slicker Dave Hart is an underwear salesman who after a heart attack quits his dead-end job, uproots his family, and heads West in search of his inner hombre. In the opener, the Harts discover that the Sholo, Nevada spread they've bought is a run-down former dude ranch populated only by an aging cowpoke named Jake.
Dave has something to prove - to himself and his family - after a champion rodeo clown he hired to help break wild mustangs ends up charming Alison and the kids instead.
A prairie-dog infestation at the Tumbleweed has Dave squirming, and so does a visit from Alison's intimidating mom, whom Dave promptly fixes up with ""gentleman"" Jake to squire her around Sholo - and with luck, into the sunset.
R.O. is zapped by lightning and soon develops many personalities, one of which is that of Dave's late father. Meanwhile, Zane disobeys his dad by accompanying some new friends to Dead Man's Leap, where he's challenged to jump across the gap.
Sheriff R.O. looks for clues leading to a suspect in the murder of Garral's beloved bovine Irene, which dropped dead while Garral was painting her portrait. Alison gets the urge to work. Duke's more interested in being a cowboy than an A student.
Like it or not, Dave gets a tough inner-city youth as a ranch hand, thanks to Marcus, who believes that equestrian therapy will turn the kid's life around.
As Auggie turns 60, he announces he's going to die - on the Harts' property, where his late wife is buried. But Dave wants him to stick around to help Duke win a sheep-shearing contest.
Jake's hotheaded brother, Zeke Hart, a Western romance writer returns to Sholo and threatens to kill Jake in a shoot-out at high noon.
Dave vows to win Sholo's Frontier Days Ghost Run buckboard race, but once Alison enters the contest - partnered with a headstrong frontier widow - Dave is up against a formidable opponent.
Cowboy Dave takes the bull by the horns and joins the competition to restore Sholo's luster in the annual rodeo. Meanwhile, a dashing rodeo Romeo sets L'Amour's spurs to jingling.
Rose boots R.O. who moves into the Flying Tumbleweed. L'Amour learns Alison posed for a lingerie catalog. Duke has a problem with horses, and Zane tries to help him over it.
The Harts' family vacation in the countryside turns into a series of disasters, including, but not limited to, a mine-shaft accident, a marauding bear, and tornadoes.
Dave may be forced back into the rat race after the ranch's well runs dry and his former boss pays him a visit in Sholo. Meanwhile, Zane falls for a lingerie model.
Spurred by a dispute with a greedy cattle driver, the greenhorn Harts and town volunteers embark on their own cattle drive to deliver a herd of steers to Carson City - and to preserve a Sholo way of life.
On his 10th birthday, Duke embarks on a rite of passage out on the range with ""prairie elder"" Jake. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Alison and Dave contemplate the imminent threat of additional parenthood, and Zane misinterprets Cassie's motives.