Ben gets restless when wild bears come near the Wedloe home during mating season. Tom explains to Mark Ben's natural instincts and Mark agrees Ben should be allowed to wander off to have a family. Missing Ben has left Mark sick and unable to eat but he returns to normal when Ben returns.

Mark leads some thieves to Boomhauer's honey farm and overhears them saying they will kill the game warden if he catches on. They notice Mark has heard them and tell him that if he says anything to his father they will shoot Tom. When the hives get damaged Ben is blamed but Mark doesn't want to say anything so that he can protect his father. When it comes down to Ben being punished, Mark tells his father what is going on. After a fight and Ben's intervention the thieves are apprehended.

A little girl gets lost in the Everglades. There is also an injured wildcat roaming the same area. Against his father's orders, Mark and Ben join in the search. Just as the girl is cornered by the wildcat, Mark and Ben find her and Ben scares the wildcat off. The main search party hears the commotion and the girl is reunited with her father.

A couple of con artists try to steal Ben to gamble on him in fights against dogs. Unable to get Ben, they find another bear. Tom and Ben break up the illegal bear-baiting ring.

A group of Seminole children approach Mark for help in attending his school, having been impressed by him getting Jimmie Boy into the school in the earlier episode ""The Invasion of Willie Sam Gopher"". Their main drawback is that they live on islands and don't have a boat to get them to school. Mark offers the winnings of the air boat race his father is in the next day to buy the boat. On the way to the race, Ellen tips the jeep and is trapped. Mark uses Ben to get the jeep off of her leg but she still can't move because it's broken. Mark contacts his father on the radio- he has just won the race and comes to help. At the victory celebration Tom gives the check to the Seminole kids to buy a boat and Mark gives Tom's winner's medal to Ben, who was the real hero of the day.

Tom offers Packy Benner some work, but he decides he can make more money more easily by stealing Ben and waiting for a reward. Tom is on to him and runs into Packy at the general store. Speaking so as to be overheard by Packy, he tells the shopkeeper that he's glad Ben is gone because he eats so much. Realizing that his scheme isn't going to work he returns the bear to Tom. Tom tells him that if he wants to give the bear back he wants money from Packy, tricking Packy into doing the work Tom previously offered for pay as compensation for taking Ben from him.

Poachers are stealing the animals from a newly repopulated island. As they try to get away with their live cargo they also load Ben onto the truck, but he is spotted by Mark. The poachers are apprehended after a chase involving Tom, Boomhauer on his 'buggy', and the sheriff.

Mark and Tom have a surprise for Ellen's birthday. They are going to a cabin deep in the woods to spend a few days. When they get there they discover that the cabin has been broken into and is inhabited by a family of panthers. After they have scared off the panthers and regained control of the cabin, Ellen says this excursion is the dumbest idea Tom ever had and the best birthday of her life.

Hunting guide Joe Cardigan takes rich Miami big game hunter John Coberly into the swamp looking for a bear. Messing up on his first attempt and enticed by the promise of $1000 for a big bear, Cardigan steals Ben when nobody is home at the Wedloe residence. Tom, Mark, Boomhauer and his dogs track Ben's scent to Cardigan's cabin and force him to reveal where Ben is. Meanwhile, Coberly has spotted Ben but gets trapped under a log while tracking him.They find Ben and Coberly and Ben is able to free Coberly.