Valley Saga World War II

When Steven dies, Claire persuades Andrew and Margaret to reconcile for the sake of the baby. Paul is shocked but hopes that they can make a go of their marriage. Andrew who has lost a hand, says that he will stand by the child. So he and Margaret return to the estate to live. Simon is saddened by the death of his wife but they were not close for a long time. Then he falls in love with a younger woman, Evelyn, who is a cousin of Parson Horsey, the clergyman of the Shallowford parish. Andrew becomes very self absorbed after his injury though he is fond of Vanessa, his wife's daughter and is willing to bring her up as his own. Andrew has been involved in the scrap metal business, prior to the war, but now he gets into property development. Paul divides up the estate among all his children at the end of the war and Andrew has a share of it. He works with Shawcross, a man he met in hospital, and is becoming very unscrupulous. When the war ends, Simon meets one of his former teachers. He decides to go into teaching, since he's lost his interest in politics and he starts to train to be a teacher. However in the years after the war, the Craddocks find that a lot of land around their estate has been sold to developers, and it is impinging on the lifestyle of the local people. Then Margaret finds out that Andrew is behind the companies that bought up the land, and she tells Claire. Andy tells her that it's inevitable that the area will turn from farming to tourism and business. He just wants to make money out of it. He and Margaret split up and he goes to America, Margaret keeping Vanessa. In the next few years, more houses are built and the area is full of tourists. Paul is depressed but there seems to be nothing that he can do. Then, when John, the youngest is 21, Claire discovers that she has angina, and she tells Maureen that she does not want to tell Paul, yet. On the night of the party, she goes to babysit Vanessa, Margaret's daughter who has a broken leg. There is a landslide caused by over building and chopping down vegetation in the area. The landslide crashes into Margaret's house and causes death and injury to others in the locality. But Claire tries to save Vanessa by getting her into safety, tied in a tree but the effort causes her own death.