Episode list

Carlyle family patriarch Baylor learns that his son-in-law Philip Hastings has been embezzling money from the family's bank and demands his resignation. Philip and Tracy, Baylor's daughter, celebrate their 20th wedding anniversary, a marriage arranged to hide the fact that Tracy was already pregnant with the child of a Greek guide. Meanwhile, Baylor's irresponsible playboy son Duncan, a European race car driver, finds his private plane hijacked to a Latin-American country, where his old college chum Miguel Santerra is now a guerrilla in a revolution. Angered over being ousted from the bank, Philip threatens to tell Tracy's son Jeffrey the truth about his parentage.

After learning that he has only months left to live, Baylor realizes that son Duncan needs to settle down and take his rightful place in the family's banking empire. Duncan considers helping friend Miguel Santerra and his revolutionaries in their cause. Baylor pays a visit to Jeffrey at college with the intention of revealing that Philip isn't his father. Tracy and Philip engage in an angry confrontation.

Duncan tentatively agrees to his father's offer of joining the family's banking empire, with the proviso that the Carlyles fund Miguel Santerra's revolution. Jeffrey meets pretty coed Sheila Riley and joins a campus demonstration. Philip pursues business with Greek shipping tycoon Antaeus Riakos. Baylor accepts Duncan's demands and plans a meeting with Miguel.

Tracy is reunited Antaeus Riakos, who turns out to be her former lover and Jeffrey's natural father. Baylor confides to his dedicated secretary Belle that he is dying. Duncan assumes his role at the bank. Tracy and Riakos realize Baylor's role in separating them twenty years ago.

Tracy learns the truth about her father's health and his impending death. Baylor arranges to rewrite his will, which will now leave controlling interest his fortune to Duncan. Following a heated argument with Philip, Jeffrey moves in with college friends Sheila Riley and Tom Steinberg. News that Miguel has been captured sends Duncan on a mission.

Duncan arrives in Miguel's country with financial backing and a desperate mission to save his friend's life. Tracy involves Riakos in her family's ever expanding problems. A conniving Philip offers to free Tracy so that she can resume her relationship with Riakos, but in exchange, he wants to inherit her share of Carlyle Bank stock upon Baylor's death.

Riakos decides that it's time he meets his son. Meanwhile, Jeffrey clashes with Jack, the leader of the student radicals. Duncan and Belle learn more about one another, but she doesn't share the secret of Baylor's illness with him. Philip discovers that Carlyle Bank is financially involved in Santerra's revolutionary activities and plans to use it to his advantage.

At the behest of her dying father, Tracy confesses to Jeffrey the story of her pregnancy and Philip's pretending to be his father in exchange for a place in Carlyle Bank. Aware of a serious attraction to one another, Duncan and Belle attempt to suppress their feelings. Philip's mistress Jean Vale passes information to Riakos about the potential scandal surrounding the Carlyles' commitment to the Santerra revolution.

An embittered Jeffrey wants revenge for his grandfather's manipulations and seeks assistance from Riakos, unaware that Riakos is his natural father. Meanwhile, Riakos gives Jean's information about the Santerra revolution to Senator Mark Jennings and suggests a formal investigation into Carlyle Bank's business practices. Baylor becomes suspicious about the nature of Belle's relationship with Duncan.

On the heels of finding her in Duncan's apartment, Baylor's sudden marriage proposal leaves Belle confused. Later, Duncan discovers that his father is dying. Senator Mark Jennings' investigation results in Baylor being subpoenaed to testify before a senate subcommittee about the Santerra affair. Sheila attempts to stop an angry Jeffrey from committing a terrorist act on campus.

The Carlyle family is shocked when Duncan finds Baylor's dead body, but was it death by natural causes or an act of murder? Philip resumes his affair with Jean Vale. Duncan demands that Riakos undo the damage he caused to their banking empire by pressuring Senator Mark Jennings into halting his senate investigation.

A member of the Carlyle family faces a blackmailer. Meanwhile, one of the attendees at Baylor's funeral is a mysterious woman veiled all in black. Sheila attempts to get through to a mixed-up Jeffrey. Anticipation builds as the reading of Baylor's will approaches, and the woman-in-black makes a return appearance.

Tracy and Duncan are stunned when the woman-in-black is revealed to be their mother Eleanor, who was committed to a sanitarium twelve years ago. Duncan suspects that Philip murdered Baylor. Jonathan attempts to come up with the money to pay off the blackmailer. Jeffrey and Sheila have a serious discussion about their relationship. Tracy and Duncan arrange for Eleanor to be recommitted to the sanitarium, but a scheming Philip gets her released again as part of his plan to assume control of the bank from Duncan.

Philip manipulates Eleanor into an unholy alliance, and he announces their intention to legally contest Baylor's will. Realizing that she and Jeffrey weren't meant to be, Sheila returns to Tom. Duncan publicly announces his suspicion that Philip murdered Baylor in order to wrestle control of the Carlyle Bank. Jeffrey finally learns the identity of his father.

In the final chapter, Duncan is injured in a car crash. Through a series of flashbacks, a previous attempt on his life by Philip is revealed. The subsequent police investigation concludes that Duncan's crash wasn't an accident.