Eliza Bowker (Kristen Curry), a young girl traveling west with her parents (Hank Kendrick and Lucky Hayes) in a covered wagon, gets lost in the vast mountain wilderness. While her parents search vainly, she wanders aimlessly through the forest, alone and frightened. A mountain lion stalks Eliza and then gives chase, but she is rescued by the grizzly bear, Ben, who frightens the vicious cat away. Eliza realizes that Ben won't hurt her and follows the bear back to Adams (Dan Haggerty). Taking the small girl to his cabin, Adams feeds her and listens to her story of what happened. He promises to help find her parents and they begin by searching the nearby mountains. Eliza gradually causes Adams to change his life style, convincing him to clean up his cabin and to clean himself up too. When Mad Jack (Denver Pyle) arrives, he is surprised to see the little girl there, and flabbergasted by the neatness of Adams' cabin. With the help of Mad Jack, they finally locate Eliza's folks and there is
Adams saves Will Boker, an entertainer and a magician, from drowning in a river, and takes him back to his cabin. Boker claims that he lost a bag full of his possessions when he was drowning, so Adams returns to the river and finds it, full of money. Boker claims that money fell in his hands by an accident, but what is the real truth?
While trying to rescue a raccoon, Adams is accidentally buried by a rock slide. Nakoma and Mad Jack believe that he is died, and they leave him under the rocks. Ben sadly wonders off, Nakoma and Mad Jack return to find Adams alive. In the meantime, Ben is captured by an owner of a animal circus, Mitch Morgan.
It is hunting season, a time when tribesman have to prove their manhood. A Indian orphan named Tumaqua catches more fish than anyone else, but a pesky otter eats everything that Tumaqua caught. After being teased by other men for coming back empty-handed, Tumaqua stals a bucket of fish by the river and runs away.
Robbie Cartman takes his friends' advice and decides to take his deer Ginger back to the wilderness, where Ginger belongs. Even though Robbie hates to give up his deer, he let's Ginger go. Later, when he returns to see how is Ginger doing, Robbie realizes that Ginger disappeared, or fell into a trap.
Mad Jack accidentally runs into Pinkerton, a man who wants to bring Adams back to the town for the trial. He rushes off to warn Adams, while that mountain is in danger when a volcano becomes active. While Jack tries to find Adams, Adams has to rescue the animals with Ben and Nakoma's help before the volcano erups.
An ecstatic Mad Jack arrives at Adams' cabin where Adams and Nakoma are fixing the roof, and informs them that he met an Army Corporal who said that the government is going to give a reward to all the animals on the mountain. Adams is shocked and informs the others that this is actually a scam, and that the corporal is actually a bounty hunter.
While Adams and Ben have to take care of a hawk, Mad Jack comes upon Mr. Milton Wright, and a few more people, who wants to get a glider to fly. Mad Jack is convinced that the "glider" is some kind of an animal trap and goes to find Adams, while Milton decides to fly with the glider, and has an accident.
In the Christmas Special, the mountains are safer than ever. The snow is falling, and the entire mountain is covered in snow. While Adams is spending time with Ben the bear, digging up a tree and having a snowball fight, Mad Jack decides to have a race. Adams witnesses Ned shooting a wolf. Accidentally, Ned shoots the snow, and causes an avalanche.