Året er 1927, og vi er tilbage hos slægten Crawley og deres tjenestefolk på Downton Abbey. Alle forbereder sig på royalt besøg, og bølgerne går højt i bestræbelserne på at imødekomme denne begivenhed. Indbyrdes kæmper både herskab og tjenestefolk med såvel store som små problemer, men også kærlighed og nye venskaber opstår i kølvandet på de kongelige gæsters ankomst.

England, 1932. Sirl William McCOrdle og Lady Sylvia har inviteret en række venner til jagtselskab på deres landsted. Det er en alsidig forsamling med blandt andet en grevinde, en krigsveteran, et matineidol og en amerikansk filmproducent, samt deres personlige tjenestefolk. Under den pæne og festlige overflade viser der sig at være en række hemmeligheder, og pludselig står selskabet midt i et mordmysterium.

Mary Rafferty comes from a poor family of steel mill workers in 19th Century Pittsburgh. Her family objects when she goes to work as a maid for the wealthy Scott family which controls the mill. Mary catches the attention of handsome scion Paul Scott, but their romance is complicated by Paul's engagement to someone else and a bitter strike among the mill workers.

A cavalcade of English life from New Year's Eve 1899 until 1933 is seen through the eyes of well-to-do Londoners Jane and Robert Marryot. Amongst events touching their family are the Boer War, the death of Queen Victoria, the sinking of the Titanic, and the Great War.

On marrying the boss's daughter, Richard takes his father-in-law's advice to hire a live-in domestic. He soon finds good help is hard to come by. Run-ins follow with dipsomaniacs, bank robbers, a Welsh lass who takes one look at London and runs, and an Italian charmer who turns the place into a bawdy house. Then when Ingrid arrives from Sweden things actually start to get complicated.