The opening episode of a series is always a fact-finding mission for me. Introduction to characters and motivations are key, and Fellowes gives us a great hook, the entail. Readers of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice will be well aware of this legal term. The Bennet family of five daughters and no son is bound to it also in the early 1800's. The heroine Elizabeth Bennet's father has inherited his estate and it can only pass to a male heir, the odious Mr. Collins. This is part of the English primogeniture law, "the right, by law or custom, of the first born to inherit the entire estate, to the exclusion of younger siblings." This of course, even in 1912, still means that only males can inherit property. Since the Earl and Countess of Grantham had three daughters and no son, the estate must pass to the next male in line, which is the Earl's first cousin James Crawley and then to his son Patrick who is also Mary's fiancé. When they both perished with the sinking of the RMS Titanic, the family is thrown into crisis. When the Earl married American heiress Cora Levinson in 1889, she brought with her a great dowry that was absorbed into the estate at her father-in-law's insistence. This cash infusion saved Downton and ensured its future. Now that the estate must pass to a complete stranger, Cora would like the money from her marriage settlement separated from the estate, and sides with her mother-in-law Violet, the Dowager Countess, for the entail to be broken so that her daughter Mary can inherit. Robert, the Earl of Grantham is hesitant and defensive when his mother question his motives and incredulously asks if he cares about Downton?