1x1 - Chapter I

September 30, 1976

Joseph Francis Xavier Armagh and his two younger siblings Sean and Mary escape a ship on the harbor of New York. The situation ashore is problematic, jobs are scarce and food equally scarce. Aboard the ship their mother has died from disease, but they have a hope; their father is in Philadelphia awaiting them. The siblings run away, and discovers their father to be dead to, and young teenager Joseph places his siblings in an Orphanage while he himself goes to make money, become rich and get them out of poverty. The first episode follows Joseph for a few years through a series of struggles, and how he starts earning his first dollars and setting off into speculation in oil, together with his new-won friend, the Lebanese Haroun Al-Zieff (later: Harry Seff). The beginnings of a true rags-to-riches-story.

1x2 - Chapter II

October 7, 1976

A few years of successful gun running and Joseph Armagh becomes a partner in the oil company of Ed Healey.

1x3 - Chapter III

October 14, 1976

Joseph Armagh rejects the love of Elizabeth Healey, learns of the dying Katherine Hennessey's unrequited love, promising to wed her daughter Bernadette before Katherine's jealous husband goes too far in a salacious attack on Joseph.

1x4 - Chapter IV

October 28, 1976

Tensions escalate between the labor unions and the railroad, as Joseph Armagh fathers four children with Bernadette even as he seeks to avenge himself on her father for depriving him of the two great loves of his life.

1x5 - Chapter V

November 4, 1976

Joseph Armagh's attempted blackmail of an upstanding senator results in suicide and a lasting curse.

1x6 - Chapter VI

November 11, 1976

Rory Armagh romances Marjorie Chisholm while his sister Anne-Marie's relationship with Courtney Wickersham crashes and burns through no fault of their own.

1x7 - Chapter VII

November 18, 1976

While his son Rory searches for brother Kevin with Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in the jungles of Cuba, Joseph Armagh quietly orchestrates the annulment of Rory's marriage to Marjorie Chisholm.

1x8 - Chapter VIII

November 25, 1976

Rory Armagh seeks the Democratic nomination for President over Woodrow Wilson, while his father ponders a lifetime without love.

Richard Jordan

Joseph Armagh

Harvey Jason

Harry Zieff

Patty Duke

Bernadette Hennessey Armagh

Blair Brown

Elizabeth Healey Hennessey

Robert Vaughn

Charles Desmond

Perry King

Rory Armagh

Katherine Crawford

Mary Armagh

Jane Seymour

Marjorie Chisholm Armagh, Marjorie Chisholm

Cynthia Sikes

Claudia

Charles Durning

Ed Healey

David Huffman

Sean Armagh

Terry Kiser

Courtney Wickersham

Vic Morrow

Tom Hennessey

Barbara Parkins

Martinique

Joanna Pettet

Katherine Hennessey

Doug Heyes, Jr.

Kevin Armagh

Jenny Sullivan

Honora Houlihan

Beverly D'Angelo

Miss Emmy

Burl Ives

Old Syrup

Peter Donat

Clair Montrose

Henry Fonda

Sen. Enfield Bassett

John Houseman

Judge Newell Chisholm

Celeste Holm

Sister Angela

Joe Kapp

Bill Strickland

Ann Dusenberry

Anne-Marie

Ray Bolger

R.J. Squibbs

Sian Barbara Allen

Cara Leslie

Neville Brand

O'Herlihy

John Carradine

Father Hale

Pernell Roberts

Colonel Elbert Braithwaite

Ann Sothern

Mrs. Finch

Sally Kirkland

Aggie

Philip Bourneuf

Father Scanlon