Spanning decades, the saga contrasts obsessive Soames, clinging to wife Irene, and Jolyon, leaving for his kids' governess. Their diverging paths intertwine, bringing highs and lows to the upper-class Forsyte clan.

The extended Forsyte family lives a more-than-pleasant upper-middle-class life in Victorian and later Edwardian England. The two central characters are Soames Forsyte and his cousin Jolyon Forsyte. Soames is a solicitor, all proper and straight-laced. His love for beautiful Irene is his only weakness, as is his beautiful daughter Fleur. Young Jolyon is the opposite, a free-thinking artist who abandons his wife to live with his children's nanny. Their lives and their children's lives will intersect over 30 years, bringing happiness to some and tragedy to others.—garykmcd

The Forsyte family is shown in Victorian respectability as they gather to meet June's fiance, architect Philip Bosinney. Some years before her father Jolyon has scandalised the family by making her nanny his mistress. Jolyon's cousin Soames, an up-and-coming solicitor, has recently married beautiful Irene and retains Bosinney to build a new home, "Robin Hill". Moving ahead to the next generation in the 1920s, Soames' daughter Fleur (by the woman he married after Irene left him) is madly in love with Jon, the son of Jolyon and his third wife Irene. Will Fleur find happiness as the wife of a well-connected publisher?—Dale O'Connor <[email protected]>