Jessica (TV miniseries)

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Jessica

Directed by	Peter Andrikidis
Produced by	Anthony Buckley
Written by	Bryce Courtenay (novel), Peter Yeldham
Starring	Sam Neill, Leeanna Walsman, Lisa Harrow, Tony Martin
Music by	Paul Grabowsky
Release date(s)	2004
Running time	196 mins
Language	English
Budget	~AUD$7,200,000
IMDb profile

Jessica is an Australian television miniseries originally broadcast by the Ten Network in 2004. It is a heart-rending story of one woman's remarkable fight for justice against enormous odds. Set at the turn of the twentieth century, against the harsh landscape of the Australian outback, Jessica portrays the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit, as one woman faces life's toughest challenges.

[edit] Plot

The Bergman sisters could not be more different. While Jessica is a feisty tomboy who loves to help her father work their farmland, her beautiful sister, Meg, is eagerly being groomed by her mother, Hester, to be the perfect wife so that she can marry her way out of poverty. However, when the man that Meg has set her sights on falls in love with Jessica, Hester pitilessly schemes to wrench the couple apart, to claim Jessica's son for Meg, and finally commits Jessica to a mental asylum. It is here that Jessica receives news of her lover's death and almost loses hope, but after enlisting the help of Mr. Runche, a down and out lawyer battling alcoholism, she is eventually released. Years later, it is the reformed Runche who gives Jessica the courage to fight for the return of her child.