Petals on the Wind

Cathy, Chris, and Carrie flee Foxworth Hall and travel toward Florida. Along the way, Carrie falls gravely ill from the poison that killed her twin Cory; in Clairmont, South Carolina, they are rescued by Henny Beech and brought to Dr. Paul Sheffield’s care. Cathy finally tells Paul their true story after they reach his home.

During their first Christmas with Paul, Cathy begins bleeding profusely and collapses. She awakens to news that doctors performed a D&C and attribute the bleeding to irregular periods from years of attic starvation. Cathy privately suspects a hidden miscarriage linked to her relationship with Chris, but she resolves to focus on dancing rather than the past.

As the siblings settle into Paul’s care, Cathy and Paul grow close and decide to marry. Paul’s affection reassures the siblings, who have endured cruelty and neglect, and Cathy begins to hope for a normal future. The bond deepens against the backdrop of their fragile, healing lives.

Paul shares more about his late wife Julia and his dead child Scotty, and Cathy and Paul’s relationship deepens into engagement. Paul’s sister Amanda hints that Julia might still be alive and asserts that Cathy miscarried Chris’s child, shattering Cathy’s trust and triggering a rash decision.

Devastated by Amanda’s claim, Cathy runs to Julian Marquet, a dancer who has pursued her, and agrees to marry him immediately. The impulsive choice marks a new, turbulent chapter, as Cathy exchanges one dangerous relationship for another.

Returning to South Carolina, Cathy appears as Julian’s wife and confronts Paul after Amanda’s message. Paul clarifies Julia’s vegetative state and denies that Cathy had a miscarriage, and Cathy finally reveals that Chris assaulted her during captivity.

Julian becomes possessive and abusive, breaking Cathy's toes and forbidding her from dancing as he cheats on her. A car accident temporarily paralyzes him, and he dies by suicide in the hospital, leaving Cathy free from his control but emotionally scarred.

Cathy gives birth to her son, Bart Jr. (Jory), and, seeking power to ruin her mother Corrine, moves with Carrie and Jory to Virginia near Foxworth Hall. She hires Bart Winslow, Corrine’s husband, as her lawyer under the pretense of collecting Julian’s insurance.

Carrie develops a courtship with a young man named Alex, who plans to become a minister, which unsettles Carrie due to her grandmother’s religious rants. She buys powdered doughnuts and arsenic and makes a suicide attempt, overwhelmed by fear and memory.

Carrie dies in the hospital after her suicide attempt, strengthening Cathy’s resolve to destroy Corrine. Cathy hatches a plan to blackmail Corrine and to steal her handsome young husband, Bart Winslow, further entangling the family feud.

Though she starts out focused on revenge, Cathy falls in love with Bart, and he returns her feelings. She discovers she is pregnant, which seems to threaten Corrine and shifts Cathy’s priorities, though Bart manages to stop the blackmail.

On the eve of the annual Christmas Ball, Cathy returns to Foxworth Hall in a gown like Corrine wore long ago and confronts Corrine before a roomful of guests. The truth spills, Corrine collapses emotionally, and a fire destroys Foxworth Hall, trapping Bart and the grandmother as Cathy, Chris, and Corrine escape.

Chris helps Cathy flee the burning hall, while Henny suffers a stroke and Paul has a massive heart attack. Cathy reunites with Paul, marries him, and bears Bart Jr., but Paul dies on his deathbed and encourages Cathy to be with Chris. The couple moves to California, living as the Sheffields while secretly preserving the attic’s secrets.