Based on the best-selling novel by Colleen McCullough, the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds was set in Australia and covered the life of Ralph de Bricassart (Richard Chamberlain), a Roman Catholic priest engaged in a constant struggle between his calling and his carnal desires. Part three, which aired March 29, 1983, finds a disillusioned Meggie (Rachel Ward) entering into an unhappy marriage and ending up a housemaid on a Queensland sugar-cane plantation. Her subsequent pregnancy is but one of the intriguing and surprising plot developments in this crucial episode.