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The wealthy Cleggs included powerful patriarch Sam, his ruthless wife Myrna; Sam's eldest son by a former marriage, Trey; oldest daughter, Julie; son, Jordy; and the youngest daughter, Brenda.

The McCandless family was headed by Clarissa, a widow. She and her husband, Baxter, had five children: Tyler, an Air Force hero with political aspirations; Thomas, a handicapped doctor; Matt, an Olympic hopeful; Wally, a confused college student; and Gillian, still in her teens. Following Baxter's death, her father, former political bigwig Judson Tyler, served as the family's patriarchal figure.

Playing an important role in Clarissa's life was longtime friend Senator Mark Denning. His unstable wife, Paula, was thought to be housebound. In fact, she pretended to suffer from agoraphobia as a way of holding onto her husband, who she feared was in love with Clarissa. Their daughter, Sloane, was a popular television newscaster.

The feud betweenthe Tylers and the Cleggs began thirty years earlier, when Myrna discovered her lifelong friend Clarissa was going to marry the love of Myrna's life, Baxter McCandless. Vowing revenge, Myrna implemented her first evil deed against Clarissa's family by destroying Judosn's political career. Exploiting the 'Red Scare' that had overtaken the counr¡try, Myrna succesfully convinced everyone that Judson was a closet communist.

The romance between Tyler McCandless and Julie Clegg figured prominently during the serial's first tow years (1982, 1983). When Julie suffered amnesia in a boating accident just weeks before her wedding to Tyler, Myrna took advantage of the situation convincing Julie she was in love with Lawrence Barrington. Myrna approved of Lawrence because she thought he came from a wealthy family. In reality, he was a con man hoping to tap into the Cleggs' millions by marrying Julie. Eventually, Lawrence's true identity was exposed, Julie regained her memory, and she and Tyler finally wed. Soon after, a pregnant Julie had a miscarriage and learned she'd never be able to have children. Two different attempts to adopt children proved unsuccessful.

Meanwhile, Tyler's vendetta against organized crime resulted in criminals kidnapping Julie to punish Tyler.. With Sloane's help, Tyler rescued julie. Unfortunately, Julie's return home wasn't a time for celebration. Instead, she was accused of shooting Senator Mark Denning ( he survived his wounds). It was later revealed that Jenny Diamond, a deranged woman with an amazing resemblance to Julie, was responsible. Before the serial ended, Julie and Tyler decided to separate.

Following and unhappy relationship with former prostitute Kelly Harper, Trey fell in love with Sloane. Unknown to Trey, Kelly left town pregnant- apparently with his child. Months after Trey married Sloane, Kelly returned and revealed they had a son, Scotty. To Sloane's disappointment, Trey decided to end their marriage so he could marry Kelly. Any chance Trey and Kelly had for happiness, however, was destroyed by Kelly's growing dependency on drugs.

After divorcing Kelly, trey began a whirlwind romance with the young woman barely out of her teens, Angelica. they married, causing everyone in the Clegg family to question Trey's state of mind. The marriage was annulled months later when it was discovered Angelica's first husband was still alive. Single again, Trey realized he still loved Kelly. Although Kelly finally managed to kick her drug habit, Trey was devastated to discover Scotty wasn't his son. thomas had been sexually involved with Kelly and was Scotty's true father.

Clarissa discovered that a man calling himself Jarrett Morgan was actually her presumed-dead husband, Baxter McCandless. An accident had disfigured Baxter years earlier, causing him to drop out of his family's life and assume a new identity. During his years away from the family, Baxter became involved with Interpol and was helping the goverment crack a notorious spy ring operating in Washington. Eventually, Clarissa was able to work through her anger and love baxter again.

Sloane got her mind off Trey by becoming sexually involved with the mysterious Zed Diamond. His presumed-dead wife Jenny was the julie look-a-like who shot Mark Denning. To protect his unbalanced wife, Zed fled Washington with her. Under Zed's loving care, jenny regained her memory, confessed to shooting Mark, and was eventually set free. With everyone believing she was sane, an obsessed Jenny hatched a plot to kill Sloane, who she thought was still attracted to Zed. The scheme backfired, resulting in Jenny's death.

While covering a news story, Sloan was reunited with a former love, Prince Ali of Baraq. Political unrest in Ali's torn country made it impossible for him to marry Sloane. Instead, he married a woman named Yasmeen. On their wedding day, Yasmeen was killed by an assassin's bullet. To Sloane's horror, her father, who was a spy, was responsible. When orders were issued for Mark to kill his own daughter, he resisted and was murdered. Anxious to build a life with Prince Ali, Sloane gave up her career to marry him. On their wedding night, Ali was kidnapped by dissidents plotting to overthrow Baraq. In his absence, Sloane tried to run the country. In the final episode, Sloane found herself facing an execution squad. The show ended with these words: " Ready, aim..." and faded in black.