Synopsis
Orphaned after his maternal grandfather's death, Caine eventually found himself outside the local Shaolin temple along with other hopeful candidates. After waiting patiently for several days, Caine and the few other remaining candidates were taken inside the temple where only Caine passed a subtle test in manners. Although taking a student of mixed parentage into the order was unprecedented, the head monk sagely noted, "There is a first for everything," and welcomed Caine.
Following his induction into the order, Caine then lived in the temple until adulthood, mastering many of the fighting forms and lessons taught by the Shaolin monks. At one point during his training he was shown the various forms and his instructor explained that it may take half a lifetime to master one of the forms. Later, while in America, when asked by a student which forms he teaches, Caine's response was, "All of them."
One of his first instructors was the blind master named Po. Po considered Caine his favorite pupil and behaved more like an elderly grandfather. Caine was given the nickname "Grasshopper" by Master Po. The reference was from an exchange where the still ignorant young Caine asked the old blind master how he could function without seeing. Po asked Caine to close his eyes and describe what he could hear. Caine explained that he could hear the water flowing in a nearby fountain and birds in a nearby cage. Po then asked if Caine could hear his own heartbeat or the grasshopper at his feet (Caine hadn't noticed the insect until that moment). Incredulous, Caine asked Po, "Old man – how is it that you hear these things?" Po's reply was, "Young man, how is it that you do not?" From that point on, Po affectionately called Caine "Grasshopper".
Years after his graduation, Caine traveled to the Forbidden City to meet Po, whose lifelong ambition was to travel to the city on that date. While talking, the Emperor's nephew and his entourage came along and an altercation ensued. While defending himself from an unruly and belligerent guard, Master Po was shot by the Emperor's nephew. Caine killed the Imperial nephew before the nephew could reload his pistol. With his dying words, Po gave Caine his pouch, containing his few worldly possessions and instructed Caine to flee from China. At first, Caine tried to flee to Tibet but was unsuccessful. He then escaped to the American Old West and discovered that he had a half-brother named Danny. While he searched for Danny, he was on the run from a steady stream of bounty hunters and Chinese agents searching for him.
The conflict between a desire for anonymity and a sense of social responsibility is conveyed through the frequent use of flashbacks. In these flashbacks, the adult Caine (Carradine) recalls a particular lesson during his training in the monastery, taught to him by the blind Master Po (Keye Luke) and Master Kan (Philip Ahn).
During the concluding four episodes of the third and final season ("Barbary House", "Flight to Orion", "The Brothers Caine", and "Full Circle") Caine not only finds his brother Danny, but his nephew Zeke as well.
Read more about this topic: Kwai Chang Caine