The romantic saga follows Ross Poldark as he loses his fiancée, the well-bred beauty, Elizabeth, to his cousin Francis. Ross ends up marrying his servant, Demelza Carne, but his passion for Elizabeth simmers on for years. Set in late 18th century Cornwall, the plot follows Poldark's attempts to make his derelict copper mines a success. Life is hard, smuggling is rife and Poldark finds himself taking the side of the underclass against the ruthless behaviour of his enemies, the greedy Warleggan clan including George Warleggan. Although the emphasis is primarily on Poldark and Demelza, there are many other characters with their own stories. In the first series we encounter Dr Dwight Enys, a forward-thinking young man who prefers to serve poor local communities rather than the rich. Enys has a brief affair with a married actress, Keren Daniel, which results in her murder by her husband. By the end of the first series, Dwight has become involved with heiress Caroline Penvenen. In the second series, they marry following Poldark's rescue of Dwight from a French prison. In the second series we get to see much of Geoffrey Charles Poldark, the son of Elizabeth and Francis Poldark. Francis drowns in a subterranean lake while investigating a putative new lode of copper in a mine in which he is invested with Ross. Elizabeth eventually marries Ross's great enemy George Warleggan. Geoffrey Charles resembles his father, and at times comes into conflict with his new stepfather George Warleggan, though Warleggan shows him certain kindnesses and pays for his education. Geoffrey Charles begins a friendship with Demelza's brother Drake Carne, whom he and his governess, Elizabeth's cousin Morwenna, meet in the woods on the Warleggan estate. Geoffrey Charles plays an instrumental role in the development of Drake and Morwenna's romance. Drake is Ross Poldark's brother-in-law and has a working-class background: therefore George considers him an unsuitable marriage partner for Morwenna. George marries Morwenna off to Reverend Osborne Whitworth, whom she despises. Pining for Morwenna, Drake puts his energies into building his blacksmith business and helping his brother Sam, a devout
Methodist. Morwenna and Osborne have a son, John Conan, whom Morwenna cannot bring herself to love. Eventually Morwenna tells Osborne she will kill his son if he forces his attentions on her one more time. Osborne has an affair with Morwenna's younger sister Rowella. Rowella's husband, Arthur Solway, discovers his wife's adultery and attacks Osborne, who is dragged to death by his frightened horse. Despite being traumatized by her marriage to Osborne, Morwenna eventually marries Drake. Sam becomes enamoured of Emma Tregirls, who refuses to marry him because she knows that his Methodist congregation will never approve of her. She loves Sam, but knows that her lack of religion and her bad reputation will eventually cause conflict between him and his faith. However, the emphasis remains with Ross and Demelza, and the series concludes with the death of Elizabeth Warleggan after the birth of her and George's daughter Ursula. Elizabeth takes a potion to bring on labour early so Warleggan will be led to think that she habitually delivers her children a few weeks prematurely; Elizabeth had delivered Valentine, born eight months after her wedding to George, after she took a supposed accidental fall on the stairs, which, it is implied only, was intentional on her part because she felt the labour coming on. Valentine is Ross's son, conceived a month before Elizabeth and George's wedding, but George is long deceived as to Valentine's parentage. Agatha Poldark and Prudie Paynter, Ross and Demelza's housekeeper, both realize that Valentine is Ross's son, and Agatha tells George of her conclusion just before her death, which occurs under George's abuse of her in his anger over her revelation. Elizabeth dies of gangrene due to the potion. When the doctor asks her if she has taken anything to bring on the labour, she denies it because Warleggan is sitting beside her. George later reveals his knowledge of what Elizabeth has done when he says to Ross, "See what you and I have brought her to." ==Cast==