A stormy panorama of passion and grief...a uniquely moving love story that spans generations...a backcloth that stretches from Australia to the Vatican, from New Zealand to London...

The Thorn Birds begins in 1915 when Paddy Cleary, a poor New Zealand farm labourer, moves his wife and their seven children to Drogheda - the vast Australian sheep station owned by his rich, childless aging sister. It ends after the Second World War when the only survivor of the third generation - the brilliant actress Justine O'Neill - sets a course of life and love halfway round the world from her roots.

But of all the rich cast of characters, it is Meggie, only daughter among the seven Cleary children, who is the heroine at the heart of the story: Meggie whose passionate, forbidden love for the magnificent priest Ralph de Bricassart would span more than half a century...