This is the epic tale of the Crawley family and their servants, set in the lavish surroundings of their acestral home, Downton Abbey. The series brings the family from pre-war England through the storms of World War I and into the soical upheaval of England in the 1920's as the lives of Downton Abbey's inhabitants are shaped by romance and hearbreak, ambition and betrayal. -- containe Season 1. After a tragedy at sea claims the life of the presumed heir, Lord Grantham is faced with the possiblity that his beloved Downton Abbey might someday belong to a distant cousin. The house has been home to the Crawley family for generations but it is also where their servents live, plan, and dream. The difference is they know so many of the family's secrets, while the family know so few of theirs. Pitting hundreds of years of British aristocracy against the tides of social upheaval and technical progress, under the looming shadow of World War I the fate of Downton Abbey and its inhabitants will be determined. -- containe Season 2. The Great War rages across Durope, and Downton Abbey is not left untouched. Triumph and tragedy, romance and passion, scandal and betrayal are all in play. The interwined lives of the Crawleys and their servants are complicated by the storms of war, and when these have finally cleared, lives will be changed. -- containe Season 3. The War is over and a long-awaited engagement is on, but all is not tranquil at Downton Abbey as wrenching social changes, romantic intrigues, and personal crises grip the majestic English country estate. In the wake of World War I, Robert, Earl of Grantham, sticks to his duty to maintain Downton more firmly than eve