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12 Episodes 1984 - 1984
Episode 1
Gathered at her father's home with all the family to see in the new year, Edith Holden vows to starts a nature diary for the year 1906. As siblings Bernard and Kenneth argue about how to run their father's Paint and Varnish firm, and the family later conduct a seance in the hope of connecting with their late mother, Edith reminisces about past January years when they were children and when mother was still alive.
Episode 2
Village child Rosie Logan comes to stay with the family after she contracts measles to give her mother a rest, where Edith teaches her about nature and drawing. Edith and sister Evelyn are both having art lessons, though Edith is not as keen on the art tutor Mr Taylor as her sister is. And brother Kenneth brings friend Frank Matthews to visit the family, a man who is a social campaigner who is eager to set up a lodge for disadvantaged children and is keen for her father's help.
Episode 3
Kenneth confesses to Edith that his marriage is in trouble and he is feeling low. It isn't helped by brother Bernard's new friend Arthur Mathieson's political views, but later he introduces Edith to his actress sister Edith Wynne Mathieson. Frank sets up the Cinderella Club for impoverished children with Arthur Holden's help, while Edith and Evelyn's art ambitions come to fruition, but with differing results.
Episode 4
30 mins
While on a train journey with a passenger, Edith reminisces about when she went to art school in Scotland, where she boarded with her father's friends Mr and Mrs Donevan Adams. She catches up with school pal Belle Trathen, who she senses has something on her mind. But during her stay Edith discovers that a mutual love of art and nature brings her closer than expected to her married friend Mr Donevan Adam.
Episode 5
Evelyn Holden informs her parents that she and Frank Matthews wish to get married, but things take a turn for the worst when soon after mother falls ill. And there is further discord when Kenneth learns that Edith plans to stay for a holiday with brother Bernard for the week, due to his capitalist views at odds with Kenneth's socialist beliefs. Evelyn confesses to Edith that she fears Kenneth may be mentally ill, but things get worse at the annual factory fete when the siblings clash on how to run the family business amid economic turmoil.
Episode 6
Now a teacher, Edith takes her pupils on a nature ramble to Yarningdale Common with her thoughts preoccupied by her upcoming art exhibition. But it proves a tumultuous month for Edith, as Kenneth confesses to her that his wife has left him before tragedy devastates the family and leaves Edith bereft. Little does she realize how the course of her life is soon to change when at the art exhibition she is introduced to a young man by the name of Ernest Smith.
Episode 7
Edith becomes involved in animal rights after being commissioned by Animal Friend magazine to create posters against animal cruelty traps and blood sports. It brings her into conflict with farmers after she discovers a puppy caught in one of their traps, and her father expresses his own concerns when he learns that she plans to make a speech in church at a meeting. Meanwhile Edith receives a letter from Ernest Smith, the man she met at the art exhibition, asking if he can come and visit her, throwing her into turmoil.
Episode 8
Edith heads off to Scotland to stay with Mrs Donevan Adam for her holiday in a bid to avoid seeing Ernest, having written a letter telling him she has gone away. But unbeknownst to her Ernest has turned up at her home and given her holiday address in Scotland by her sister Winnie he heads up to find her. Once there he stays at the guest house where she is staying, where over a shared interest in spiritualism and nature Edith is forced to confront her feelings.
Episode 9
Now 1911 and living in London, Edith Holden is now married to Ernest Smith. But as they settle into their new home, Edith looks back at that crucial time in Scotland where they spent together where their budding romance nearly didn't happen. As Edith's obsession with art eventually risks driving Ernest away, she realizes that she is using it to avoid confronting her fears of commitment, the age gap between them and her growing feeling that the past that she knew and loved is growing ever further away from her.
Episode 10
Now 1913 Edith and Ernest are looking after Kenneth's child Esmond after his divorce and nervous breakdown. She is also a success after having a novel, Animals Around Us, published, but while at the book launching party a careless comment by one guest leaves her pondering her own regrets of not having children of her own and feeling isolated in London away from the family home. But she also remembers how their marriage very nearly didn't take place in the first place due to her own father's misgivings. But it is a decision her father later takes that ends up leaving her distraught.
Episode 11
War has broken out and Ernest is away fighting in the trenches. But as Edith frets, she has other things to worry about when she learns that Kenneth is gravely ill with food poisoning. With the family firm continuing to lose money, Bernard urges his father to put him in sole charge of the factory over Kenneth to save the firm. But when father unexpectedly dies, his death sees a family split as Bernard and Kenneth take it to court to see who get to run the firm, leading to unimaginably tragic results.
Episode 12
As Edith waits for her husband to come home from the war, she looks back at her past and all that has happened in it, little realizing the tragedy that is about to unfold.