One
The Forsytes gather to celebrate Winifred Forsyte's (Amanda Root) engagement to Montague Dartie, a penniless but charming man. Her cousin Young Jolyon (Rupert Graves) is absent from the party. We find he is at home with his daughter, June, and her governess, Helene. Jolyon and Helene are involved in a minor flirtation, but their feelings for each other are realized when his wife, Frances falsely accuses him of an indiscretion. They acknowledge their feelings for each other only after this accusation, and he then decides to leave Frances. Young Jolyon finds himself cut off from the Forsyte fortune and family.
Nine years later, Young Jolyon has a son with Helene, and a daughter on the way. He tries to claim some of the capital of his inheritance from his grandfather Forsyte, rather than just existing on his allowance, so he and his wife can purchase a larger house. His uncle James, the only remaining trustee, heavily influenced by James' son Soames (Damian Lewis) refuses him.
A prosperous partner in the family law firm, Soames becomes interested in the beautiful but poor, Irene Heron, (Gina McKee) while holidaying in the seaside town of Bournemouth where she lives with her widowed stepmother. Though at first, with youthful enthusiasm, she considers his advances flattering, he ultimately does not appeal to her because of his awkward manner and desire to own things. For example, while at an art gallery, she sees the beauty of a painting, he sees it as a possession, something to be owned and hung in his hallway. When he proposes, she refuses him despite encouragement from her stepmother because of their impoverished state as a result of Irene's father's death, leaving them only ₤50 a year to live on. She and her stepmother are invited to visit his family, and she behaves contrary to social expectations when she dances with Winifred when she is supposed to be in mourning. Intrigued by her beauty and danger, Soames forgoes the rules and asks her to dance.
Some months later, Winifred gives birth to her first child, Imogen. Montague (Montie) gives her a string of pearls as a gift. She wonders how he could have afforded them considering that her father did not settle money or a house on Winifred when they married and Montie was not a wealthy man. At a dance in Bournemouth, Soames attempts to show his continued passion for Irene, but ends up vulgarly kissing her arm in public. She is mortified, and her stepmother is disappointed when Irene refuses him again.
Read more about this topic: The Forsyte Saga (2002 Miniseries), Episode Plots
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