Thorn

One of the most-watched TV miniseries of all time, "The Thorn Birds" (1983), Colleen McCullough's epic tale, set against a 40-year backdrop of the sprawling Australian frontier, follows the forbidden love between Father Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain) and rancher's daughter Meggie Cleary (Rachel Ward). Barbara Stanwyck, Bryan Brown, Piper Laurie, and Christopher Plummer also star in the Emmy-winning drama. Then, what happened to Father Bricassart and Meggie during World War II? Learn how a bitter custody fight between Meggie and ex-husband Luke over the son she knows to be the priest's brings the former lovers together again in the follow-up "The Thorn Birds: The Missing Years" (1996).