America The Story of Us

Episode 1: Rebels

Crossing the Atlantic Ocean to start a new world (CGI)
In 1607, a small group of English adventurers lands in Jamestown. Thirteen years later the Pilgrims settle in Plymouth, New England. These men and women are all driven by the promise of a new life, and all face huge dangers from disease, starvation and conflict. The two colonies are very different, yet in time both grow. One man’s entrepreneurial dream, tobacco, and the first African Americans, turn the swamps of the South into a land of opportunity. The hardworking and resourceful Puritans forge the North into a trading powerhouse with shipbuilding at its core. Within 100 years, they have the highest standard of living in the world--a testament to a unique American spirit. Yet success and wealth prompt British jealousy, taxation, resistance and, finally, war. This is the story of how, over seven generations, a group of European settlers survive against all odds, claw themselves up and then turn against their colonial masters. A diverse group of men, women and children are about to become truly American.