Power Without Glory

- Season 1

(1976)

Out of work and struggling to just put food on the table, John comes up with a scheme for he and his mates to make some money by fixing pigeon races. Finding success, they move up to horses.

John secures protection from the police for his bet making operation but faces new competition for workers when the factory reopens.

Jim Tracey gets out of prison looking to settle the score with John for not looking after his wife while he was inside.

John West hires an expensive barrister to represent his men who are facing gaming charges. Fortunately, the man's ethics are in line with John's and he suggests paying off the police's main witness.

Rumours give Nellie some last-minute doubts about her marriage to John and she seeks Father O'Tool's advice.

With pending gaming legislation that could shut down his tote, John shifts his focus to politics and backs an independent candidate in the local by-election.

Sgt O'Flaherty, now running the Gaming Squad, steps up his pursuit of John West, a freshly minted millionaire.

With the closure of the Tote, John has severed his ties with Carringbush and shifted his focus to horse racing and winning the Victoria Cup.

John makes the difficult decision to cut ties with a longtime friend and colleague by promoting him to an out-of-the-way job.

Nellie continues her affair with brick layer Bill Evans but breaks things off out of fear of being caught.

John backs the government's effort to enact conscription but the issue divides his men just as it does the country.

John reestablishes ties with the Catholic church when Archbishop Malone visits him to express his regrets for the way John was treated by his priest.

Eddie Corrigan is among those wanting to unite the country's Socialist parties into an official Communist Party of Australia linked to the international movement.

Archbishop Malone returns from the Vatican with a warning for John about the danger of the Socialisation of the Labor Party.

Frank Ashton in the running for the leader of the Labor party much to the dismay of John and Archbishop Malone.

Sugar Renfrey is in line to be the next mayor of Carringbush. Snoopy Tanner is bootlegging booze into the United States for John West but their business association ends when Snoppy's gang steals from John's warehouse.

Marjorie West returns home and introduces her family to the man - the German man - the non-Catholic German man - she met while studying overseas.

John and Frank Ashton are called to testify before a Royal Commission in connection to John paying Frank to vacate his seat for Ted Thurgood.

Labor's election victory has made Jimmy Summers the nation's new PM. A letter from Marjorie announces the birth of John and Nellie's first grandchild but it's not enough to soften John's heart and accept her back into his house.

The Depression has hit the country hard, although some are affected more than others, a fact made increasingly clear to Mary as she continues to live her lavish lifestyle.

Frank Ashton is driven from the stage while speaking before a meeting of the Unemployed Workers Movement. Disheartened, he resigns his seat in Parliament and retires for politics.

John drops his support for the current mayor of Melbourne amidst allegation of corruption but he won't go quietly. At the behest of her Communist friends, Mary convinces her father to provide his stadium for a rally against fascism.

John, a milk marketer, is upset by allegations in the newspaper about his influence over the Victorian parliament in efforts to prevent passage of the Milk Supply Bill.

A letter arrives from Germany with unsettling news from Marjorie - Andreas has left her and the children. Nellie wants to help her daughter come home but John won't do anything unless his daughter asks him for help herself.

The war is over but it's still business as usual for John West who is championing a new candidate for the state by-election. However, a new challenger poses a problem.

Mary is living in London with Marjorie's children. Marjorie's fate remains unknown.