Plot

Chronicles the lives of three generations of the upper-middle-class British family, the Forsytes, from the 1870s to 1920.

The extended Forsyte family live 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 the beautiful Irene is his only weakness as is his beautiful daughter Fleur. 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

In the 1920s, decades after the troubled and unhappy marriage between Soames Forsyte and the beautiful pianist Irene Heron came to an end, Soames and Irene have both remarried and moved on. Irene is happily married with a son to Jolyon Forsyte - causing Jolyon to be even further considered as an outcast and traitor by the Forsytes - and Soames to the beautiful, yet very unfaithful, Frenchwoman Annette. With Annette, Soames also finally has the child he so desperately wanted, and, at the age of 18, his daughter Fleur knows exactly how to get whatever she wants from doting and indulgent father. The pain of the past is however once again about to resurface as Fleur, despite Soames's efforts, meets and falls deeply in love with Irene and Jolyon's 18-year-old son Jon. As the young lovers embark on their passionate love affair, they have no idea of the obsession, unhappiness, adultery, rape, and possessive, unrequited love that lie in their parents' past.—Anonymous

In Victorian England, Soames Forsyte, a man from a wealthy and arrogant family, meets a falls in love with Irene Herron, a poor woman. After taking her step-mother's advice, Irene marries Soames. After four years of marriage, Irene is not happy because she does not love him. Soames tries to win her affections by giving her the things he believes every woman wants, dresses and jewels. He can not give her the one thing her heart desires, freedom. Out of desperation, he asks his cousin June's fiancé, Phil Bosinny, to build him a house in the country. Irene sees the house as a prison. During the construction of the house, Phil and Irene fall in love and have an affair. The affair causes a scandal in the family. Years later, Irene comes in contact with Soames's uncle Jolyon who leaves her money after he dies out of friendship. Jolyon's son, Young Jolyon, is her trustee. Soames falls for a young French girl, Annette, whom he wants to marry. He goes in search for Irene for a divorce but has no current evidence for the divorce. Instead, he decides to try to win her back so he can have an heir. She runs from him and finds friendship and protection in Young Jolyon. Soames decides on a divorce after he finds Irene and Young Jolyon together and Irene tells him she and Young Jolyon are in love. Irene and Jolyon marry and have a son, while Soames marries Annette and has a daughter. Is this family scandal over? Is Irene finally free from Soames?—Anonymous