Andy and his bumbling deputy, Barney Fife, offer to help track down an escaped convict, but the captain of the state police scoffs at the small-town sheriff's help.

A gifted guitar player (James Best) who has self-doubts about his musical talent gets a chance at stardom -- with a little push from Andy.

When Mayberry's local pharmacist falls ill, his niece Ellie Walker steps in as a temporary replacement -- and creates turmoil with the town's resident hypochondriac.

It's the annual church picnic, and when Andy invites Ellie to the event, he begins to suspect that she has marriage on her mind -- so he hastily arranges for three of Mayberry's most eligible bachelors to lavish attention on her.

Andy must intervene -- and risk breaking a promise to Opie -- when he discovers that one of Opie's young friends has run away from home.

When Barney's bumbling law enforcement techniques are questioned, Andy and Ellie decide to stage a fake robbery -- a scheme that turns Barney into a real hero!

Andy is dismayed when Opie refuses to contribute money to the school charity drive -- but there's a secret reason for Opie's apparent selfishness.

Andy hopes to finally bring peace to two of the county's longtime feuding families, the Carters and the Wakefields -- by arranging a duel between the two patriarchs of the quarreling clans!

Ed Sawyer, a mysterious stranger, arrives in Mayberry and disrupts the lives of the townspeople because he appears to know everyone's name, intimate details about their lives, and other startling facts about them.