Family Tree

Series Premiere. Unemployed and unattached, Tom Chadwick is surprised when he's bequeathed an old chest of curios by his great-aunt Victoria, who he and his sister Bea don't remember ever meeting. He finds an old black-and-white photo in the chest that his father Keith believes is Tom's great-grandfather, Harry. With the help of his avuncular neighbor, Mr. Pfister, and his old school friend, Pete, Tom tracks down a rather unusual expert in the field of antique photos called Neville St. Aubrey, who discovers some very intriguing and revealing information about Tom's ancestor. Meanwhile, Pete tries to get Tom's love life back on track by setting him up with a 'model pretty' date. He's just not sure what kind of model.

When Mr. Pfister discovers an unforeseen aspect of Tom's great-grandfather Harry's life, it leads Tom and Pete to the South coast of England, where Harry died many years before. They meet an impossibly old woman, who still lives next door to the house Harry lived in and remembers him from when she was a child. Their investigation takes them to a local regional theater, where he and Pete learn more than they ever wanted to know about Harry's life and loves from the two very friendly gentlemen who run the theater. It also results in he and Pete entering a very unique and interesting competition, but not before Pete has set Tom up on another extraordinary date.

Bea and Monk audition to perform at a children's birthday, while Tom starts digging deeper into the life of his grandfather William, who he suspects might have competed in the 1948 London 'Austerity Games,' a far cry from those of 2012. After learning more about the games from Mr. Pfister, Tom visits his great-aunt Victoria's friend Mildred, who is able to shed some light on William's former athletic prowess, and on why Victoria left Tom the chest of family curios. With Keith's help, Tom and Pete visit the gym where Tom's grandfather William trained for the Games, and meet some old-timers who actually knew him. While at the gym, Pete bravely accepts a challenge from a much younger timer. Bea and Monk perform their first professional gig at a wedding reception.

Tom finally has an interview for a job. He also discovers he has cousins in both Derbyshire and California, and makes a plan to visit and learn more about the Derbyshire branch of the family tree. Meanwhile, Pete has to perform a delicate procedure on an alpaca at the zoo. Tom, Bea, Keith, Luba and Monk drive up to the Derbyshire farm owned by their cousins from the North. Tom is interested to find out if the grass is really greener in the country, and equally determined to get to the bottom of a dark family secret. Culture clashes notwithstanding, Tom gets his answers and some family truths are finally revealed. The family-tree plot thickens as he also hears from his American cousin, Al, on the trip. Pete's life-affirming mission at the zoo proves to be a no less sticky venture.

Tom arrives in Los Angeles to stay with his American cousins, Al and Kitty Chadwick, and to try and discover why his great-great-grandfather Charles left for England more than a hundred years ago. Al has invited two other cousins--Rick, who also lives in California, and Dave, who's on a road trip from North Carolina--to a family barbecue. With Rick's girlfriend Julie and Al's neighbor Mike rounding out the party, everyone gets to know each other a little better, and they put their heads together to figure out how the family ended up having branches in both the United States and England. As the drinks flow, tongues loosen and inhibitions are dropped, ice is not the only thing that gets broken underneath the California sun.

Tom's cousin Rick, an American Civil War enthusiast, helps Tom find out more about his great-great-grandfather Charles' mysterious activities as a soldier in the war. They visit a Civil War expert, Harvey Krupp, who agrees to investigate further on Tom's behalf, and invites him to take part in a Civil War re-enactment that he organized. A car accident leads Tom to meet a beautiful aspiring writer, Ally Keele, and the attraction appears to be mutual. Tom gamely participates in the Civil War re-enactment with Rick, Julie and Harvey, but war isn't all it's cracked up to be. During the battle, he gets a phone call and some news from England. Afterwards, Harvey gives him some even more interesting news about his great-great-grandfather, which explains a lot of things.